Tony Stark - Fury's Daughter
by Mairai688
Summary: It's only two days after the battle of New York when Tony receives a call from Nick Fury. Guess what? The Avengers are moving into his home! But Tony's married to Fury's daughter, how will he hide that from the Avengers and the fact that he has children? A bit of trust issues, panic attacks and more of Tony's secrets.
1. Chapter 1 All I want is sleep!

Chapter 1: All I want is sleep!

Two days. That's it right there yep. End of story. Nope, not starting it. Don't say anything! Not listening lalalalalalalalalalala!

Anyway…. That's how Tony Stark was feeling straight after the Battle of New York as it had been deducted by the press. The battle had gone over two days if you started from when Loki appeared in Stuttgart, otherwise it would be closer to five days when he first arrived on Earth. It had been two days since he had been returned to Asgard and the battle had ended and Tony still hadn't had enough sleep. He'd been able to have a maximum of two hours for the past two days and he hated it. He'd been so desperate to sleep after the battle but his injuries and heart–and mind–wouldn't leave him alone.

The memories of the battle seemed to plague his mind, keeping him high on adrenaline as fear would take over his mind-set, still thinking that he was fighting a battle only this time it's mentally. The bruises that covered his back, arms and legs made it practically impossible for him to get comfortable and fall asleep in his bed next to his beautiful wife who'd almost killed him in fright after he finally returned home to her and their children. His heart was darn right the worst. After suffocating in space and then returning to Earth dead before having his heart restarted, it had been complete agony forcing his heart to push against the shrapnel to move it back to its original position before his heart went out. He'd had to do that for the entirety of the two days and it had only just moved back when he'd received a call from Fury.

He'd just been about to fall asleep and gain at least another hour of sleep when his phone started ringing, blaring out Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy) which is the only thing that can wake Tony up when he's exhausted–unless it's someone touching his Arc Reactor that isn't his wife or children, even in a coma he'd wake up. No seriously he really would, it has happened before. He doesn't know why that piece of music wakes him up since his parents used to play it to make him go to sleep, hmm…. Maybe it's because they're gone that the memories wake him up? Anyway…. Moving away from the emotional parts, he'd just been about to fall asleep after putting Angelo to bed when his phone rang.

Tony groaned in dismay but his mind was already up and wide awake so there was no chance of him falling asleep again after that. He turned over carefully so that he was resting on his left side, which had the least amount of bruising on it, and managed to reach for his phone, blinking blearily as he stared at the number. It was Fury, his Dad-in-law, I guess. Yeah, yeah, shocking he knows. He's married to Fury's oldest daughter, whatever, we'll get back to that stuff later, right now let's get back to what's important. The call reader said 'Eye-Patch' which Fury hadn't found funny but Nicholas had. Fury has two sides you see, the super-secret-spy who couldn't keep a single secret from Tony, and then there's Nicholas. Nobody calls him Nicholas or Nick/y or Joseph, just plain old Fury, even his family do. But Nicholas is kind, caring, and has a great sense of humour believe it or not. Nicholas treats Tony like his son, which is great after his parents' death and Stane's betrayal. Nicholas was another member of his contacts right next to Abigail whereas Eye-Patch was at the bottom. You can see the difference, but unfortunately when Eye-Patch calls Tony has to answer and face the coldness instead of the warmth.

"Stark." Was the first word that Fury said to him, his voice unemotional and stern, irritating Tony immediately.

"Fury," Tony responds curtly, his annoyance clearly expressed in his voice.

"You were supposed to be at the meeting twenty minutes ago on the Helicarrier," Fury says a bit of frustration leaking into his voice.

"Was I? Wait what meeting?" Tony says bewildered, he hadn't heard anything about it and that was very unusual for him. He quickly, yet slowly so as not to hurt himself, climbed out of bed which is absent of Abigail, also strange he swears she went to bed with him.

"Yes you were, didn't Agent Hail tell you?" Fury asks now slightly surprised. Agent Hail is Abigail's SHIELD name so that no one knows she's related to Fury or married to Tony. It's an inside joke since when the three all met each other for the first time it had been hailing. Tony had broken his arm trying to get out of the hail storm when Fury and Abigail had found him and taken him to the hospital. It turned out Tony's father had sent them out looking for him after he'd run off again, it proved to be a very interesting conversation when people asked them how they met (when they weren't being Fury, Agent Hail, or Tony Stark that is).

"No, they didn't," Tony says whilst buckling a belt with one hand with a practised ease. They never included the gender of an agent when they were talking on the phone in case someone else was listening in as Fury's line wasn't quite as secure as Nicholas's.

"Well, I'll excuse you just this once, now hurry up and get over here!" The call ends abruptly and Tony sighs, he knows Nicholas will talk to him later about it since it is unusual for Abigail not to tell him about a meeting for SHIELD. After quickly pulling a shirt over his back and wings–again that will be explained later–he glances up at the ceiling out of habit before addressing JARVIS.

"J, where's Abi?" He asks quietly so as not to awaken the sleeping one month and three weeks old baby sleeping in a cot near Abigail's side of the bed. Tony hadn't gotten around to finishing Angelo's nursery due to the fight with Loki and it hadn't been done before he was born because they didn't know they were expecting another baby. Plus he'd been busy with Stark Industries before that so he couldn't even finish it after Angelo was born.

"Mrs Stark is currently throwing up in the bathroom and has been for quite a few minutes now sir." That startled him, why was Abigail throwing up? She wasn't sick was she? In his sudden panic, he quickly runs to the bathroom door at the other side of the room whilst regretting–and not for the first time either–making the walls soundproof. Bursting through the door he immediately spots Abigail kneeling on the floor puking into the toilet whilst trying to keep her long black hair away from her face. As soon as he's next to her he pulls her hair away from her face and gently rubs soothing circles on her back. About a minute or two later she finally finishes throwing up. Carefully leading her away from the toilet Tony gently lays her down on the cold tiled floor to rest before flushing the toilet and grabbing a water bottle from the emergency kit hidden in a wall. He opens it up whilst helping her to stand up so that she can rinse her mouth and spit it into the sink before taking a much-needed drink. She looks pale–which is pretty hard to notice on a black-skinned person unless you know what exactly to look for–making his brow crease in worry as he notices the sweat on her neck and back. After about another five minutes, in which Abigail has brushed her teeth and showered briefly, they return to the bedroom where Abigail lies down on the bed for a moment. Her eyes are closed and she's curled up on her side facing Tony whose arm is being used as a pillow.

"Are you okay?" Tony asks, speaking quietly. She nods almost imperceptibly and Tony can tell that she's exhausted. She should probably take sick leave from SHIELD with how she looks, she's a nurse as well as an agent from time to time and he's certain that there's someone else who could take over for her.

"You don't need to worry Tony." She says her voice barely above a whisper. He raises an eyebrow which makes her smile even though she can't see him. She knows him almost perfectly, Tony thinks. "It's nothing bad, honest." Tony stares at her for a moment before speaking.

"That didn't look anything but bad Abi, what is–no, what isn't wrong?" Tony asks, causing Abi to chuckle before opening her eyes to look him in the eye, the exhaustion yet happiness bright in her blue gaze. Yeah don't ask how that one happened, nobody in the family knows how she ended up with blue eyes.

"I'm pregnant again Tony." She says with a smile. Tony stares at her in shock. They'd only done it once a while after Angelo had been born, he knew that it was possible and that it could happen, but now?

"Okay..." He lets the word drawl for a moment trying to get his racing mind to calm down. "I'm not going to ask how long since that's obvious, but what? I don't know what to think but that, I mean it's never happened before so I'm just shocked right now." He says looking her in the eyes. Her lips twitch into an amused smile before she sighs.

"Yeah I know, that was my reaction too. I found out the day you–you–" She breaks off as her lips begin to tremble and tears fall from her eyes.

"Shh-shh, it's okay baby. It's okay. I'm alive don't worry." Tony soothes her, gathering her into his arms for a moment and letting her cry onto his shoulder whilst wrapping his black, neon-blue, and white wings around her shaking body, almost making her completely invisible.

"I keep thinking I'm dreaming." She whispers. Tony looks down at her face and into the tears still pooling in her eyes. "Sometimes I used to think I was dreaming that I have this life with you, but now I keep thinking that I'm dreaming that you're alive, like when Afghanistan happened. I don't want to lose you, Tony." She says earnestly, grasping onto his T-Shirt. Pulling her closer to him, he plants a firm yet love-filled kiss onto her lips and she relaxes somewhat before Tony's phone starts ringing again. Tony sighs and breaks the kiss much to both of their displeasure, this time seeing that it's the Captain thanks to JARVIS and his technology. How had he managed to find his number and navigate a phone? Someone probably helped him, his brain supplies. He sighs again before picking up his phone and answering the call.

"Hello?" He asks though he knows who it is anyway.

"Stark, you were required to come here over half an hour ago," Steve answers shortly, his tone a bit hard. Tony can practically see the disappointed look on his face right now in his mind.

"I am aware of that Rogers, and what happened to your manners? Never thought you'd be the one to skip on formalities?" Tony responds, smirking a bit when he hears an annoyed huff on the other end of the phone. Abigail just laughs quietly next to him, he'd already told her everything that had happened during the battle and before.

"Like you're any better Stark." Is the response he gets surprising Tony and hurting him slightly. Abigail can hear the conversation since it's on speaker and she frowns at the phone before placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Where are you?" He asks.

"Still at home, I'm waiting on the repairs on my suit to finish so that I can get there. I might be around 10 or 15 minutes." Tony answers his voice betraying nothing. It was true. His armour was pretty bunged up after the battle and he'd subconsciously sent JARVIS a message to finish working on the suit when he'd received Fury's phone call, all of that possible thanks to his mutant ability to control and communicate with technology.

"Hurry up." He finishes and ends the call.

"Talk about rude," Tony mutters before gaining the information from the tech that his suit was finished and ready to be deployed. He sighs again not wanting to leave Abigail on her own but knows that he can't escape this meeting with the captain on his back. "I have to go now darling, I'll be back soon. Get some rest for me okay?" She nods in response though he can tell she's terrified of him leaving again so he quickly plants another kiss, very much like the previous one, on her lips lasting quite a bit longer thanks to no interruptions. Once they break apart Tony unwraps his wings from around her and reluctantly leaves the room and flies down the stairs in a bit of a rush to get to his suit and the Helicarrier.

The Mark VII is completely repaired and he folds his wings tightly into his back before remembering that he never had the zips zipped up on the back of his shirt–all of his shirts and singlets have long cuts from the hem up to the top of his wings so that he can put them on without any difficulties befalling with his wings. The zips are almost completely invisible and don't even reflect light so that no one notices them but he usually needs help from one of the children or Abigail to zip them up since his wings tend to get in the way on the odd occasion. Sighing he quickly zips them up and thankfully his wings don't cause too many issues aside from screaming in pain due to the bruises still staining his back when he has to shift them slightly to pull the zip the whole way up otherwise there'd be exposed skin. Focusing deeply, Tony concentrates all of his power onto his wings and makes them disappear on his back, though the shirt still looks the same on the back with no holes in it. Using so little of his power seems to have drained him and he has to steady himself as he sways, the exhaustion from the battle and so little sleep makes it difficult for him to use any of his power right now but he must use it. The Avengers can't know about his wings.

As soon as he finishes zipping up his shirt he relaxes his tense muscles before stepping into the suit and letting it fold around him. When it's all connected Tony blasts his way up through the garage and out into the night sky. It's ridiculous that Fury should call them all to a meeting at this hour–it's 9 pm–but who knows what's going on? Tony could probably have JARVIS hack into SHIELD and find out but he's too tired to bother with it right now. Within 15 minutes, like he said, he arrives at the Helicarrier which surprisingly is hovering just over LA. The suit disappears from around his body when he arrives in his hangar and he walks quickly to one of the meeting rooms that JARVIS told him contains all the Avengers and Fury.

He doesn't even make a dramatic entrance when he comes in, instead, he opens the door quietly and takes his seat at the table. There's a bit of a conversation going on around him between the Captain, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. Thor, who's surprisingly returned to Earth, is just watching them in curiosity whilst Bruce just observes saying nothing. Fury's standing at the head of the table watching them, he gives an imperceptible nod to Tony when he sees him and Tony puts a finger to his lips signalling that he wants to wait. Tony, with his enhanced sight, sees a twitch on the Director's face on his lips letting Tony know that he's going to enjoy this one.

"He's always late for everything isn't he?" Natasha mutters glaring at the door Tony had just come through. He's sat to her left away from the door and could be seen in her peripheral vision if she was paying any attention to it.

"He's a Stark, they're always late," Clint says in response, making the Captain frown.

"Howard wasn't like that. Not always anyway, he was hardly ever late to anything." Cap says in response his face still frowning at the Hawk.

"Well, I guess he must have gotten it from his mother." Clint waves off Cap's words with a hand. Tony tenses in anger at what is said of his mother and his hands grip the armrests of his seat with such strength that his hands and fingers paled tremendously to stop him from launching himself at Clint. Fury sends him a quick look asking if he's okay. Tony responds by making his eyes retract. It was a way of how they could silently communicate without showing any emotion whatsoever. Making their pupils dilate and retract whilst saying everything they don't want anyone to know. Fury responds by dilating his eyes slightly, letting him know that he'll put a stop to the conversation if it becomes too much for him.

"I wish he'd hurry up. If he was anything like his father–" Cap starts to rant before Tony finally explodes and speaks up loudly.

"I would be dead!" He says startling everyone, except Fury, in the room. Clint and Natasha both jump out of their seats with weapons in their hands instantly, both of them staring at him like he's a threat. Thor looks up simply surprised and Tony can guess that he's used to Loki appearing up out of nowhere. Bruce has a hand over his heart as he tries to calm his racing heart whilst staring at Tony with wide eyes. Cap, who is sitting opposite to Tony, is simply shocked. His eyes so wide it almost looks comical. "If I was anything like my Father," Tony starts, his voice quieter as he glares in rage at the three Avengers who had been speaking about him. "I would be dead. I would have died in the car crash that killed him and my mother and for your information Barton–" He spits out his surname like it's poison, actually making them all flinch at the venom in his voice, as his expression darkens along with his eyes which he's having to fight them to avoid them flaming up to electric blue. "My mother was never late, for anything. I have a lot of work that I have to do which can leave me exhausted very often. I didn't know there was a meeting going on tonight which is why I was late. So don't you dare condemn me for something I had no power over and if any of you ever talk about my parents like that again I'll send you into your worst nightmares!" He finishes, his voice had deepened tremendously going from his high tenor to an extremely low bass so that it almost sounded like he was growling instead of speaking.

Through his peripheral vision, he can see Bruce looking at him in fear as well as Natasha and Clint who are both rather pale and struggling to keep their masks up though the Captain is paler than them both together, his body is shaking in either rage or fear he couldn't be bothered in figuring out which. Fury, although no one else could see it, was rather alarmed yet upset that Tony had ended up having to speak to them like this and something else too, but Tony was too focused on the other three Avengers to think about what it meant. Then there's Thor who is glaring at the other three Avengers and seems to agree with him judging by his expression.

"I agree with you, Man of Iron," He starts making everyone turn to face him in surprise excluding Tony and Fury that is. "They should not have spoken about you in such a way nor of your parents. They have no right to condemn you and I am certain that you are nothing like how you were described. I am sorry I did not defend you." Thor says sincerely, sending another glare towards the three star-struck Avengers.

"Thank you, Thor," Tony says quietly and sincerely, letting one of his real smiles spread slightly across his face for a brief moment. "I appreciate it." Then he claps his hands together, startling them once again, and returns to his snarky self with his voice back at a tenor. "So! What do you want us all here for Eye Patch?" Tony says turning to smirk at the Director who does nothing but let his eye twitch slightly in amusement though that remained unbeknown to the other Avengers.

"Well now that you have all stopped clawing at each other's throat, I have a matter of great importance to speak to you about." He paused, making sure he had everyone's attention before continuing. "SHIELD is currently unable to house the Avengers in any facility that we have, yes you have been staying in the Helicarrier but we cannot keep housing you here as we have too much work to do and not enough resources for it either." He paused again, all of them had gone tense in anticipation of what Fury was about to say. Tony and Fury quickly make eye contact and have a quick conversation in which Tony agrees to his decision. Fury looks back at the Avengers, their silent conversation had been only two seconds long. "You shall be transferred somewhere else, in which I mean you will be going to live at Stark's Malibu mansion." There's silence then–

"WHAT?!"


	2. Chapter 2 Moving into the Malibu Mansion

**Chapter 1: All I want is sleep!**

Two days. That's it right there yep. End of story. Nope, not starting it. Don't say anything! Not listening lalalalalalalalalalala!

Anyway…. That's how Tony Stark was feeling straight after the Battle of New York as it had been deducted by the press. The battle had gone over two days if you started from when Loki appeared in Stuttgart, otherwise it would be closer to five days when he first arrived on Earth. It had been two days since he had been returned to Asgard and the battle had ended and Tony still hadn't had enough sleep. He'd been able to have a maximum of two hours for the past two days and he hated it. He'd been so desperate to sleep after the battle but his injuries and heart–and mind–wouldn't leave him alone.

The memories of the battle seemed to plague his mind, keeping him high on adrenaline as fear would take over his mind-set, still thinking that he was fighting a battle only this time it's mentally. The bruises that covered his back, arms and legs made it practically impossible for him to get comfortable and fall asleep in his bed next to his beautiful wife who'd almost killed him in fright after he finally returned home to her and their children. His heart was darn right the worst. After suffocating in space and then returning to Earth dead before having his heart restarted, it had been complete agony forcing his heart to push against the shrapnel to move it back to its original position before his heart went out. He'd had to do that for the entirety of the two days and it had only just moved back when he'd received a call from Fury.

He'd just been about to fall asleep and gain at least another hour of sleep when his phone started ringing, blaring out Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy) which is the only thing that can wake Tony up when he's exhausted–unless it's someone touching his Arc Reactor that isn't his wife or children, even in a coma he'd wake up. No seriously he really would, it has happened before. He doesn't know why that piece of music wakes him up since his parents used to play it to make him go to sleep, hmm…. Maybe it's because they're gone that the memories wake him up? Anyway…. Moving away from the emotional parts, he'd just been about to fall asleep after putting Angelo to bed when his phone rang.

Tony groaned in dismay but his mind was already up and wide awake so there was no chance of him falling asleep again after that. He turned over carefully so that he was resting on his left side, which had the least amount of bruising on it, and managed to reach for his phone, blinking blearily as he stared at the number. It was Fury, his Dad-in-law, I guess. Yeah, yeah, shocking he knows. He's married to Fury's oldest daughter, whatever, we'll get back to that stuff later, right now let's get back to what's important. The call reader said 'Eye-Patch' which Fury hadn't found funny but Nicholas had. Fury has two sides you see, the super-secret-spy who couldn't keep a single secret from Tony, and then there's Nicholas. Nobody calls him Nicholas or Nick/y or Joseph, just plain old Fury, even his family do. But Nicholas is kind, caring, and has a great sense of humour believe it or not. Nicholas treats Tony like his son, which is great after his parents' death and Stane's betrayal. Nicholas was another member of his contacts right next to Abigail whereas Eye-Patch was at the bottom. You can see the difference, but unfortunately when Eye-Patch calls Tony has to answer and face the coldness instead of the warmth.

"Stark." Was the first word that Fury said to him, his voice unemotional and stern, irritating Tony immediately.

"Fury," Tony responds curtly, his annoyance clearly expressed in his voice.

"You were supposed to be at the meeting twenty minutes ago on the Helicarrier," Fury says a bit of frustration leaking into his voice.

"Was I? Wait what meeting?" Tony says bewildered, he hadn't heard anything about it and that was very unusual for him. He quickly, yet slowly so as not to hurt himself, climbed out of bed which is absent of Abigail, also strange he swears she went to bed with him.

"Yes you were, didn't Agent Hail tell you?" Fury asks now slightly surprised. Agent Hail is Abigail's SHIELD name so that no one knows she's related to Fury or married to Tony. It's an inside joke since when the three all met each other for the first time it had been hailing. Tony had broken his arm trying to get out of the hail storm when Fury and Abigail had found him and taken him to the hospital. It turned out Tony's father had sent them out looking for him after he'd run off again, it proved to be a very interesting conversation when people asked them how they met (when they weren't being Fury, Agent Hail, or Tony Stark that is).

"No, they didn't," Tony says whilst buckling a belt with one hand with a practised ease. They never included the gender of an agent when they were talking on the phone in case someone else was listening in as Fury's line wasn't quite as secure as Nicholas's.

"Well, I'll excuse you just this once, now hurry up and get over here!" The call ends abruptly and Tony sighs, he knows Nicholas will talk to him later about it since it is unusual for Abigail not to tell him about a meeting for SHIELD. After quickly pulling a shirt over his back and wings–again that will be explained later–he glances up at the ceiling out of habit before addressing JARVIS.

"J, where's Abi?" He asks quietly so as not to awaken the sleeping one month and three weeks old baby sleeping in a cot near Abigail's side of the bed. Tony hadn't gotten around to finishing Angelo's nursery due to the fight with Loki and it hadn't been done before he was born because they didn't know they were expecting another baby. Plus he'd been busy with Stark Industries before that so he couldn't even finish it after Angelo was born.

"Mrs Stark is currently throwing up in the bathroom and has been for quite a few minutes now sir." That startled him, why was Abigail throwing up? She wasn't sick was she? In his sudden panic, he quickly runs to the bathroom door at the other side of the room whilst regretting–and not for the first time either–making the walls soundproof. Bursting through the door he immediately spots Abigail kneeling on the floor puking into the toilet whilst trying to keep her long black hair away from her face. As soon as he's next to her he pulls her hair away from her face and gently rubs soothing circles on her back. About a minute or two later she finally finishes throwing up. Carefully leading her away from the toilet Tony gently lays her down on the cold tiled floor to rest before flushing the toilet and grabbing a water bottle from the emergency kit hidden in a wall. He opens it up whilst helping her to stand up so that she can rinse her mouth and spit it into the sink before taking a much-needed drink. She looks pale–which is pretty hard to notice on a black-skinned person unless you know what exactly to look for–making his brow crease in worry as he notices the sweat on her neck and back. After about another five minutes, in which Abigail has brushed her teeth and showered briefly, they return to the bedroom where Abigail lies down on the bed for a moment. Her eyes are closed and she's curled up on her side facing Tony whose arm is being used as a pillow.

"Are you okay?" Tony asks, speaking quietly. She nods almost imperceptibly and Tony can tell that she's exhausted. She should probably take sick leave from SHIELD with how she looks, she's a nurse as well as an agent from time to time and he's certain that there's someone else who could take over for her.

"You don't need to worry Tony." She says her voice barely above a whisper. He raises an eyebrow which makes her smile even though she can't see him. She knows him almost perfectly, Tony thinks. "It's nothing bad, honest." Tony stares at her for a moment before speaking.

"That didn't look anything but bad Abi, what is–no, what isn't wrong?" Tony asks, causing Abi to chuckle before opening her eyes to look him in the eye, the exhaustion yet happiness bright in her blue gaze. Yeah don't ask how that one happened, nobody in the family knows how she ended up with blue eyes.

"I'm pregnant again Tony." She says with a smile. Tony stares at her in shock. They'd only done it once a while after Angelo had been born, he knew that it was possible and that it could happen, but now?

"Okay..." He lets the word drawl for a moment trying to get his racing mind to calm down. "I'm not going to ask how long since that's obvious, but what? I don't know what to think but that, I mean it's never happened before so I'm just shocked right now." He says looking her in the eyes. Her lips twitch into an amused smile before she sighs.

"Yeah I know, that was my reaction too. I found out the day you–you–" She breaks off as her lips begin to tremble and tears fall from her eyes.

"Shh-shh, it's okay baby. It's okay. I'm alive don't worry." Tony soothes her, gathering her into his arms for a moment and letting her cry onto his shoulder whilst wrapping his black, neon-blue, and white wings around her shaking body, almost making her completely invisible.

"I keep thinking I'm dreaming." She whispers. Tony looks down at her face and into the tears still pooling in her eyes. "Sometimes I used to think I was dreaming that I have this life with you, but now I keep thinking that I'm dreaming that you're alive, like when Afghanistan happened. I don't want to lose you, Tony." She says earnestly, grasping onto his T-Shirt. Pulling her closer to him, he plants a firm yet love-filled kiss onto her lips and she relaxes somewhat before Tony's phone starts ringing again. Tony sighs and breaks the kiss much to both of their displeasure, this time seeing that it's the Captain thanks to JARVIS and his technology. How had he managed to find his number and navigate a phone? Someone probably helped him, his brain supplies. He sighs again before picking up his phone and answering the call.

"Hello?" He asks though he knows who it is anyway.

"Stark, you were required to come here over half an hour ago," Steve answers shortly, his tone a bit hard. Tony can practically see the disappointed look on his face right now in his mind.

"I am aware of that Rogers, and what happened to your manners? Never thought you'd be the one to skip on formalities?" Tony responds, smirking a bit when he hears an annoyed huff on the other end of the phone. Abigail just laughs quietly next to him, he'd already told her everything that had happened during the battle and before.

"Like you're any better Stark." Is the response he gets surprising Tony and hurting him slightly. Abigail can hear the conversation since it's on speaker and she frowns at the phone before placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Where are you?" He asks.

"Still at home, I'm waiting on the repairs on my suit to finish so that I can get there. I might be around 10 or 15 minutes." Tony answers his voice betraying nothing. It was true. His armour was pretty bunged up after the battle and he'd subconsciously sent JARVIS a message to finish working on the suit when he'd received Fury's phone call, all of that possible thanks to his mutant ability to control and communicate with technology.

"Hurry up." He finishes and ends the call.

"Talk about rude," Tony mutters before gaining the information from the tech that his suit was finished and ready to be deployed. He sighs again not wanting to leave Abigail on her own but knows that he can't escape this meeting with the captain on his back. "I have to go now darling, I'll be back soon. Get some rest for me okay?" She nods in response though he can tell she's terrified of him leaving again so he quickly plants another kiss, very much like the previous one, on her lips lasting quite a bit longer thanks to no interruptions. Once they break apart Tony unwraps his wings from around her and reluctantly leaves the room and flies down the stairs in a bit of a rush to get to his suit and the Helicarrier.

The Mark VII is completely repaired and he folds his wings tightly into his back before remembering that he never had the zips zipped up on the back of his shirt–all of his shirts and singlets have long cuts from the hem up to the top of his wings so that he can put them on without any difficulties befalling with his wings. The zips are almost completely invisible and don't even reflect light so that no one notices them but he usually needs help from one of the children or Abigail to zip them up since his wings tend to get in the way on the odd occasion. Sighing he quickly zips them up and thankfully his wings don't cause too many issues aside from screaming in pain due to the bruises still staining his back when he has to shift them slightly to pull the zip the whole way up otherwise there'd be exposed skin. Focusing deeply, Tony concentrates all of his power onto his wings and makes them disappear on his back, though the shirt still looks the same on the back with no holes in it. Using so little of his power seems to have drained him and he has to steady himself as he sways, the exhaustion from the battle and so little sleep makes it difficult for him to use any of his power right now but he must use it. The Avengers can't know about his wings.

As soon as he finishes zipping up his shirt he relaxes his tense muscles before stepping into the suit and letting it fold around him. When it's all connected Tony blasts his way up through the garage and out into the night sky. It's ridiculous that Fury should call them all to a meeting at this hour–it's 9 pm–but who knows what's going on? Tony could probably have JARVIS hack into SHIELD and find out but he's too tired to bother with it right now. Within 15 minutes, like he said, he arrives at the Helicarrier which surprisingly is hovering just over LA. The suit disappears from around his body when he arrives in his hangar and he walks quickly to one of the meeting rooms that JARVIS told him contains all the Avengers and Fury.

He doesn't even make a dramatic entrance when he comes in, instead, he opens the door quietly and takes his seat at the table. There's a bit of a conversation going on around him between the Captain, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. Thor, who's surprisingly returned to Earth, is just watching them in curiosity whilst Bruce just observes saying nothing. Fury's standing at the head of the table watching them, he gives an imperceptible nod to Tony when he sees him and Tony puts a finger to his lips signalling that he wants to wait. Tony, with his enhanced sight, sees a twitch on the Director's face on his lips letting Tony know that he's going to enjoy this one.

"He's always late for everything isn't he?" Natasha mutters glaring at the door Tony had just come through. He's sat to her left away from the door and could be seen in her peripheral vision if she was paying any attention to it.

"He's a Stark they're always late," Clint says in response making the Captain frown.

"Howard wasn't like that. Not always anyway, he was hardly ever late to anything." Cap says in response his face still frowning at the Hawk.

"Well, I guess he must have gotten it from his mother." Clint waves off Cap's words with a hand. Tony tenses in anger at what is said of his mother and his hands grip the armrests of his seat with such strength that his hands and fingers paled tremendously to stop him from launching himself at Clint. Fury sends him a quick look asking if he's okay. Tony responds by making his eyes retract. It was a way of how they could silently communicate without showing any emotion whatsoever. Making their pupils dilate and retract whilst saying everything they don't want anyone to know. Fury responds by dilating his eyes slightly, letting him know that he'll put a stop to the conversation if it becomes too much for him.

"I wish he'd hurry up. If he was anything like his father–" Cap starts to rant before Tony finally explodes and speaks up loudly.

"I would be dead!" He says startling everyone, except Fury, in the room. Clint and Natasha both jump out of their seats with weapons in their hands instantly, both of them staring at him like he's a threat. Thor looks up simply surprised and Tony can guess that he's used to Loki appearing up out of nowhere. Bruce has a hand over his heart as he tries to calm his racing heart whilst staring at Tony with wide eyes. Cap, who is sitting opposite to Tony, is simply shocked. His eyes so wide it almost looks comical. "If I was anything like my Father," Tony starts, his voice quieter as he glares in rage at the three Avengers who had been speaking about him. "I would be dead. I would have died in the car crash that killed him and my mother and for your information Barton–" He spits out his surname like it's poison, actually making them all flinch at the venom in his voice, as his expression darkens along with his eyes which he's having to fight them to avoid them flaming up to electric blue. "My mother was never late, for anything. I have a lot of work that I have to do which can leave me exhausted very often. I didn't know there was a meeting going on tonight which is why I was late. So don't you dare condemn me for something I had no power over and if any of you ever talk about my parents like that again I'll send you into your worst nightmares!" He finishes, his voice had deepened tremendously going from his high tenor to an extremely low bass so that it almost sounded like he was growling instead of speaking.

Through his peripheral vision, he can see Bruce looking at him in fear as well as Natasha and Clint who are both rather pale and struggling to keep their masks up though the Captain is paler than them both together, his body is shaking in either rage or fear he couldn't be bothered in figuring out which. Fury, although no one else could see it, was rather alarmed yet upset that Tony had ended up having to speak to them like this and something else too, but Tony was too focused on the other three Avengers to think about what it meant. Then there's Thor who is glaring at the other three Avengers and seems to agree with him judging by his expression.

"I agree with you, Man of Iron," He starts making everyone turn to face him in surprise excluding Tony and Fury that is. "They should not have spoken about you in such a way nor of your parents. They have no right to condemn you and I am certain that you are nothing like how you were described. I am sorry I did not defend you." Thor says sincerely, sending another glare towards the three star-struck Avengers.

"Thank you, Thor," Tony says quietly and sincerely, letting one of his real smiles spread slightly across his face for a brief moment. "I appreciate it." Then he claps his hands together, startling them once again, and returns to his snarky self with his voice back at a tenor. "So! What do you want us all here for Eye Patch?" Tony says turning to smirk at the Director who does nothing but let his eye twitch slightly in amusement though that remained unbeknown to the other Avengers.

"Well now that you have all stopped clawing at each other's throat, I have a matter of great importance to speak to you about." He paused, making sure he had everyone's attention before continuing. "SHIELD is currently unable to house the Avengers in any facility that we have, yes you have been staying in the Helicarrier but we cannot keep housing you here as we have too much work to do and not enough resources for it either." He paused again, all of them had gone tense in anticipation of what Fury was about to say. Tony and Fury quickly make eye contact and have a quick conversation in which Tony agrees to his decision. Fury looks back at the Avengers, their silent conversation had been only two seconds long. "You shall be transferred somewhere else, in which I mean you will be going to live at Stark's Malibu mansion." There's silence then–

"WHAT?!"

**Chapter 2: Moving into the Malibu Mansion**

Tony sighed. It had been 20 minutes since Fury had announced that the Avengers would be moving in with him and they'd all been arguing about it since, well except Thor he was "Honoured to be invited into your home Man of Iron!" yeah that. Bruce was another story.

"I don't think it would be a good idea for me to stay in your home, Mr Stark," Bruce says nervously, Tony sighs and turns in his seat to look at him.

"Bruce, seriously you're not going to get out of this one. I trust you Bruce, and I trust the Hulk. You both saved my life once and I want to return that debt. Besides I've destroyed my home a few times before from lab experiments and–" Tony cut himself off there, he didn't want to talk about the fight that had happened barely a year ago against Rhodey. He hadn't been drunk despite what everyone had thought. He'd found out when he was 4 that he was extremely allergic to alcohol despite how impossible that may seem, it was due to his mutant abilities. He has a faster metabolism and all of his senses are enhanced even past that of Captain America's but somehow that also meant that if he drank even a drop of alcohol it would send his metabolism off the rails since it is actually a poison. He'd been four when his Dad accidentally gave Tony his drink of clear alcohol instead of water by mistake. Tony had ended up hospitalised for three months, thankfully that was before he made his first engine and the press started coming after him. His Dad had been distraught at what had happened, and despite their rocky relationship Tony knew his Dad loved him, even if his last words to him had never been said.

"Are you okay?" Bruce asks him quietly, Tony blinked and realised that it had suddenly gone quiet and that everyone was staring at him. Tony's used to people staring at him but with the Avengers it was more unnerving.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Tony asked, genuinely confused. Bruce stares at him for a moment before glancing at the others and speaking.

"You sort of, zoned out and you started muttering in a language I've never heard before and your eyes looked like they were changing colour. Plus you were very pale and were shaking." Tony stares at him in surprise before realising what he'd done. He always started speaking in his Father's language whenever he thought about his death and the memory–whether he was consciously thinking about it or not–would cause him to go into panic mode and his power would start to appear in his eyes, causing them to flame blue or white depending on his emotions.

"Yeah, sorry. Just some... unpleasant memories coming to mind that's all. I was probably speaking gibberish or something I do that with bad memories." Tony explains vaguely. It's not exactly a lie either, he does do that with bad memories but he speaks a language that doesn't exist it's not gibberish, it's just a dead language like Latin. Thankfully the only one who sees through the lie is Fury. He can speak the language as Tony and his Dad taught him and his family when there appeared to a stronger connection between the two families, in which Tony was getting ready to propose to Abigail which he thankfully did before they died, but they got married a few months later after the funeral giving Tony some time to grieve before they "tied the knot".

"Are you alright though? You don't look well at all, when did you last sleep?" Bruce asks and Tony can tell that he's switching back to 'doctor mode' from when he was in India. Tony sighs and looks away from Bruce and the Avengers, not wanting to see their expressions when he answers.

"I've had a total of two hours of sleep over the past two days. I was about to fall asleep when Nicky called." Tony replies. He can sense Fury twitch slightly, Tony only says 'Nicky' when he's annoyed or upset with Fury over something. He doesn't mean to blame him or anything, he's just so tired that he can't really keep his emotions from lashing out currently.

"Two hours?! Why haven't you been sleeping? Even in the army, the minimum we ever had was about four!" Cap says and Tony turns his glare back on him.

"You're a super-soldier Captain. Bruce has the Hulk to help him heal. Thor is a god. Natasha and Clint are assassins who are used to continuous fighting and injuries. I'm an insomniac. I rarely get more than three hours of sleep on a regular basis. Also, I was awake for two days during the fight with Loki and at the end of all the fighting I was greatly bruised and have injuries that take a lot longer to heal than for the rest of you!" He says angrily, he's sick of everyone treating him like a drama queen. Granted he did take drama in school and got a scholarship in acting, though thankfully the press didn't find out, but that would make him a drama king and he only really uses it for when he's around other people.

They all stare at him stunned, even the assassins, apparently they thought he couldn't show emotion and that in itself hurts somewhat. He stands up and starts walking to the door before pausing, his hand reaching for the handle. He turns back to face them and speaks.

"If you're going to move in either make it right now or tomorrow, I really don't want to deal with this in two days. I'm too exhausted to take much more right now so no backchat." He says seriously before walking back to his suit and heading home. It's almost an hour later before Tony receives a message saying that the Avengers are moving in. He smiles to himself, maybe, maybe this could work.

They arrive within ten minutes of Tony receiving the message from Fury that the team arrives with their few belongings. During that time Tony managed to hide the children's rooms with holograms that he created and had opened up the hidden doorways inside their rooms so that he can spend time with them and take them to school without the Avengers finding out. He doesn't want them to know that he is married yet, he's pretty sure it would be a good reason to have him kicked off the team even if it is unfair, but because of how they're feeling towards him he doesn't really want to risk it happening. When they all arrive downstairs Tony comes down the stairs–he really wants to fly due to how tired he is–and greets them.

"Okay, good to see you guys." He starts and he can sense all of them, except Thor and Bruce, roll their eyes at him clearly still unhappy about being here. "I'm going to skip the tour for today and I'm just going to take you to your rooms. Also, there are some rooms that you will not be allowed to enter around the house so don't even try breaking in." He looks at Clint and Natasha at that. They both scowl, well Natasha frowns slightly and Clint scowls at him but follow him up the stairs anyway.

"I guess that you have quite a few secrets to hide then," Clint says snidely at Tony's back.

"And you don't?" He deadpans turning to face them his face stern, Clint just glares at him but doesn't say anything. "But yes I do have some things in my home that I don't want you to see. I do a lot of my most private work in this house and I don't trust anyone except Bruce and Thor not to turn it over to anyone else." He looks at them squarely before turning away and continuing down the second corridor.

"You call this a house?" Cap says incredulously making Tony grit his teeth together as more memories come flying at him.

"Compared to what I grew up in, yes this is a house." He replies curtly and turns his head completely away from him showing them that he doesn't want to talk about any of it. They stay silent until Tony reaches the first door. "Bruce this is your room, I know that you like to be near an exit and prefer calming areas so I thought this room would be best for you." He says, his arm extended in front of him leading to the door. Bruce goes in and Tony continues down the corridor where there are two doors near each other that he gives to Thor and Cap before leaving the last two at the bottom of the corridor to the assassins to fight over. He's about to go to his room when Cap comes out of his room along with Bruce and Thor just as he's about to mount the stairs. He sighs when he hears them and turns around to face them. "Yes?" He asks tiredly.

"Um, where is your room, Mr Stark?" Cap asks clearly not liking the sound of saying Tony's name like that.

"Call me Tony please, I don't do 'Mr. Stark' unless it's a formal occasion. As for my room, it is on the third floor which no one is allowed on. If anyone tries to come up there without my permission JARVIS will promptly kick you out. Very few people have access to the rooms up there." Tony replied curtly, his warning completely clear to them.

"Who is this 'JARVIS' you speak of Son of Stark?" Thor asks him curiously.

"He's an Artificial Intelligence or A.I. you could say. He's basically a computer system that runs my house or electronic butler, depending on what you prefer. JARVIS say hi." Tony says.

"Hello, Dr Banner, Captain Rogers and Mr Odinson. It is a pleasure to meet you." JARVIS says politely making the three Avengers jump in surprise.

"Can he see us?" Cap asks uncertainly and Tony smirked a little at his expression, never thought he'd make Captain America nervous with one of his creations.

"No he can't technically see you, but his software allows him to know where you are due to the technology around the house. So he can't actually see you, he just knows where you are in the house or in the world if you want, but he can't actually see you." Tony explains before turning to start the rest of the way up the stairs.

"Tony?" Bruce says hesitantly stepping towards the stairs. "Thank you for doing this." He finishes sounding sincere, Tony nods back at him and gives him a small smile.

"If you need something ask JARVIS. If you need me, tell him." Tony says a bit quietly before disappearing up the stairs and going back to his bedroom where Abigail is waiting for him.

"How'd it go?" She mutters sleepily from under the blanket.

"Pretty good. I've given them the warnings so hopefully, nothing bad will happen, and I think that I might be able to get to sleep tonight." Tony says quietly whilst unzipping his shirt and throwing it onto the sofa that they have in their room whilst allowing his wings a much-needed stretch before climbing into bed. Abigail snuggles up to him and relaxes as his arms and wings wrap around her once more, pulling them closer together despite the obvious bruises on his body. It doesn't take long for them both to fall asleep and for once, Tony gets a full eight hours of sleep without incident for the first time in years.

When Bruce woke up he almost expected himself to be in the Helicarrier's Hulk proof cage again, so he found himself surprised when he woke up to a bright room with the sun coming through the windows. He sits up in the comfortable king-sized bed looking around the room. There's an on-suite to his left and a walk-in wardrobe to his right. The room is large with a mini library area near the windows along with a large corner sofa. There's no TV in here, no technology, and the room itself feels relaxing. Bruce smiles then goes to his suitcase at the end of the bed and begins to unpack. He doesn't have much with him. Just some clothes, a few books and stress-balls leaving him quickly without anything to do. He grabs a spare change of clothes and walks into the bathroom which isn't what he'd expected from an eccentric billionaire. There's a large open shower, sink and toilet and an emergency cabinet as well as a small slightly hidden cupboard in which he finds a 72 hour kit in place which again surprises him.

Shrugging he decides he will ask Tony about it later and abruptly strips and walks into the shower and turns it on. A small smile spreads across his lips as his tense muscles relax from the warm water and he allows himself to stay in a few minutes longer than he usually would before turning off the shower, towelling himself down and getting dressed. He leaves his room and stands in the hallway for a moment, unsure of what to do when a voice above him speaks, making him jump in surprise.

"The Avengers are currently downstairs in the kitchen Dr Banner," JARVIS says. Bruce allows himself a moment to calm down his heart before responding.

"Um, thanks JARVIS." He says nervously.

"You're welcome, Dr Banner," JARVIS responds casually. Bruce heads down the staircase the team came up last night and heads towards where he thinks he remembers seeing the kitchen on entry to the house the previous night. Walking in he finds all of the Avengers there, sans Tony, along with someone else he's never seen before. It's a black-skinned woman with black hair and brown eyes dressed in black jeans and a light blue T-Shirt currently holding a, maybe, 2-month-old baby in her arms as she reads the Newspaper. He looks at the other Avengers who are watching her closely whilst they eat. Starting to feel nervous, Bruce joins them at the kitchen's island and sits on one of the bar stools. The woman looks up and smiles at Bruce kindly whilst readjusting the baby in her arms so that he's now resting in the crook of her right arm instead of her left.

"Good morning Dr Banner." She says politely with a soft smile. He nods back, currently unsure what else to do. "Would you like something to eat?" She asks and Bruce shakes his head, he won't be able to eat until someone explains what's going on, and he's especially more nervous of the Hulk when he's around children. Cap clears his throat breaking the uneasy silence.

"Excuse me for saying this ma'am, but who are you?" The Captain asks politely, everyone watches the woman for her response though she just seems amused at their behaviour.

"I'm Agent Hail. Fury sent me to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't try to kill Mr Stark within the first 48 hours of your stay here." She replies pleasantly. The Avengers glance at each other in shock, even Black Widow looks slightly surprised at her words.

"We didn't receive any word of an agent being sent to observe us," Barton says looking at her suspiciously, she doesn't even blink at his expression or words, just smiles simply.

"Well you can always ask Fury or Mr Stark about me, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to confirm that I will be staying here." Agent Hail says smoothly. Bruce glanced at the others, they didn't appear sure how to take Agent Hail if that's who she is. Bruce decides to address the most pressing question for him.

"Excuse me Agent Hail, but whose baby is that?" He asks nervously and everyone glances down at the sleeping baby in her arms.

"He is my son, Angelo. I can understand your concern Dr Banner but let me assure you, I have dealt with much more dangerous people than you." She says smiling. This takes Bruce by surprise as are the rest of the group.

"Who?" Black Widow asks, her face serious and slightly threatening. Before Agent Hail can respond Tony enters the room behind them.

"Me." He states loudly, his face devoid of any emotion as he looks at them, he sends Bruce a small smile though as he passes him and grabs a drink of water from the fridge.

"You?" Barton scoffs, looking at Tony mockingly. "How are you more dangerous than any of us here? You just wear a suit of armour that protects you from everything without getting hurt, you're nothing without your suit. Iron Man is dangerous yes, you, however, are not." Clint states abruptly. Tony just stares at him for a moment and Bruce can feel some kind of energy radiating from him, and not just from the Arc Reactor in his chest. The whole atmosphere is tense as Tony's expression remains unreadable, not even his eyes are moving as he stares at them.

"JARVIS." He says simply and there's a loud click above them causing them to look up and freeze. Roundabout thirty machine guns pointing at all of them sans Bruce, Agent Hail, and Thor. They all stare at Tony in shock and horror at his next words. "Remember what I said yesterday onboard the Helicarrier?" He says coldly. "I was not bluffing, so if you want to stay here then I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself." He blinks and suddenly the ceiling is back with no guns pointing at them. He turns away from them and sits next to Agent Hail after grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl.

"How's Angelo?" He asks looking at the sleeping baby before biting into his apple. Agent Hail smiles at him and answers.

"He's okay, a bit tired from last night, but hopefully he's going to be asleep for most of the day." She says conversationally. Tony smiles slightly before chucking his apple core into the bin across the room, Bruce is actually surprised that he managed to eat that so quickly, it hadn't been a small apple at all. "Have you had your meds yet?" Agent Hail asks him and he sighs shaking his head. "Go take them." She tells him sternly, Tony chuckles to himself before walking over to another hidden cupboard and retrieving some tablets and swallowing them with the water he still had. He closes the cupboard and sits back down at his seat before looking back at Agent Hail.

"Happy?" He asks with a small smile on his face. Agent Hail chuckles and nods. There's a beep from somewhere and Agent Hail quickly grabs her phone out of her pocket and glances at it before sighing. Tony sees it over her shoulder and grimaces slightly. "Do you want me to hold him?" He asks, gesturing to the sleeping baby. She nods and gently passes him over before putting the phone to her ear and walking out of the room. Tony seems at ease with the baby having no trouble supporting his body as he takes out a phone and starts doing... something on it. "How did you like your rooms?" Tony suddenly asks startling Bruce a bit.

"It was a very splendid Son of Stark!" Thor says loudly and making Tony flinch and making the baby stir in his sleep.

"Can you keep your voice down a bit please Thor? I'd rather Angelo didn't wake up." He says.

"Of course Son of Stark," Thor says quieter making Tony smile a bit but he still winced when he spoke.

"Also, please don't call me that, I prefer not to be called by my last name when I am at home," Tony says and Thor nods in agreement.

"Why do you have machine guns in your ceiling?" Cap asks looking at the ceiling nervously. Tony glances up at him then at the ceiling before shrugging.

"People have a tendency of breaking into my homes, that is just a way of making sure I'm prepared. Various weapons are in the ceilings in every room." He replies casually.

"Every room?!" Clint exclaims. Tony frowns at him when Angelo moves again.

"What did I say about being quiet?" He asks rhetorically. "Yes they are in every room, but only a Stark can control them." He says and that catches Bruce's attention. Only a Stark, is he implying that he's not the only one? The others didn't seem to notice what he said and Bruce decides to intervene before any more arguments could happen and wake the baby.

"Is that why there was a 72 hour kit in the bathroom?" He asks making Tony look up from whatever was on his phone.

"What 72-hour kits?" Natasha asks making Tony smirk at her.

"I'm surprised you didn't find them on your first visit." He says making her glare at him, she had been here before? "But yes that is the reason Bruce, as well as always being prepared for a disaster." He finishes before looking back at his phone then pocketed it. Standing up he makes his way back to the doorway before turning back to address the group. "If you want a tour of the house I suggest you come along." He says before leaving the room, the Avengers quickly follow behind him as he takes them upstairs but goes to the right away from their rooms and down another corridor.

They make their way down to a set of double oak doors which Tony gestures to and speaks. "That's the rec room, the next door on the right is the gym and the outside pool is attached to it on the other side. At the bottom of the hallway to the left is the TV room." He finishes gesturing to each door as they walked down the hallway. They're about to turn around when Bruce spots another door that Tony missed, it's almost invisible were it not slightly open.

"Tony you missed one," Bruce says pointing at the door. Tony stops and stares at it for a moment before moving Angelo carefully up to his shoulder and closes the door quietly.

"That room is off-limits to everyone who isn't a Stark," Tony says, again with the Stark thing, he's making it painfully obvious to Bruce that there is another Stark somewhere. He leads them back into the living room and points towards a staircase going down. "Down there is my lab where I do most of my work for SI, very few people are allowed down there and Bruce is one of them. If you want to do some experiments just head down and JARVIS will let you in." Tony says to Bruce who nods.

"I remember there being a lot more rooms than the ones you've shown us, did you decide to leave out a few rooms when you remodelled?" Natasha asks innocently. Tony's face goes dark as he stares at her and Bruce can see his eyes darkening as he starts shaking very much like what happened the night before. Bruce needs to do something, he doesn't know what yet, to try and help him as the man is clearly losing control though Thor seems to be the only one other than him to have noticed.

"Widow of Black, I would suggest never bringing this topic up again," Thor says staring at her before placing a hand on Tony's shoulder causing him to jump and break out of whatever it was that was happening. Unfortunately, the jolt has woken up the baby in his arms causing it to cry, Tony sighs as he relaxes and all evidence of darkness on his face instantly disappears.

"Never mention that again Romanoff." He says curtly before turning around and walking to the staircase leading to the second floor. "I'll be on the third floor not to be disturbed unless you need something." He says then disappears from view.


	3. Chapter 3 I'm ADHD

**Chapter 3 I'm ADHD**

Tony sighed when he finally returned to his room. Angelo had taken quite a while to cam down enough to fall asleep and he'd spent the last three hours starting and finishing his nursery so he was completely wrecked. Abigail had to leave briefly due to her younger sister being caught in a major car accident and in critical condition. JARVIS had told him after he headed up stairs to see where she was, he wished he could be there with her. Rosalie–Abigail's sister–had always been close to Tony and helped him and Abigail out with their five–soon to be six–children, but he can't leave because that would leave Angelo and Nico at home since they're too young for something like that. Nico's currently two years old, heading on three so not quite old enough to start kindergarten yet and Fury can't look after them because of SHIELD plus his wife works there too so things would just be a nightmare for everyone. Fury's probably on the case with his daughter at the moment since the entire family is a part of SHIELD, whether an agent or nurse or even cleaner, they all work there and there's six of them in total. That means six professional poker faced Furys and no, he does not mean the Furys from Percy Jackson.

Anyway, Tony's day has been rough. Nico is currently taking a nap so that's two children off his list and the older three won't be finishing school for another two hours. It's usually at this time that Tony likes to fly about the house or outside so that he can stretch his wings, but unfortunately that's another thing the Avengers moving into his home has taken away from him. The others are privacy, spending time with his kids around the house, who were told about the Avengers being in the house, and now his hobby of flying. At least he'll be able to do some science in the lab with Bruce when he wants to so it shouldn't be too bad.

Speaking of Bruce, Tony's certain that he's picked up on the little hints he was dropping about his family. Even though Tony's allowing them all to stay here that doesn't mean he's completely looking forward to it, specifically because of Natasha and Cap, Hawkeye he can deal with on occasion but certainly not all the time, those two though are the worst right now. Tony didn't exactly ask for this, I mean come on, who exactly wants to go through torture for three months in Afghanistan and end up as Iron Man, he was already the Black Eagle for goodness sake! So not only does he have one 'secret' identity but two and they look at him like he's worth not even next to nought.

It's difficult enough trying to look after your family and have a secret identity as the Black Eagle as well as Iron Man. Before it was easier, going out as Iron Man one day and the Black Eagle the next. Abigail used to go with him since she can control the elements though it's become less than frequent because of the children. He misses going out with Abigail for any reason really and with the Avengers here it's going to make being Black Eagle and Dad a lot harder than it already was.

Tony flops down head first onto his bed, his thoughts are going to give him a migraine any minute now. He massages his temples with his hands and tries to stop thinking about the Avengers and secret identities along with SHIELD, though unfortunately that's impossible. A genius's mind can have twelve different 'conversations' going through their heads at once, as for Tony it's thirty eight due to his ADHD. Most would look at him and not think he had ADHD or something else like that, but if you look closely for the signs you can spot them.

Being ADHD and a genius has it's benefits but it also drives you completely insane–he's not kidding, if anyone says a word a song will instantly come into his head from the '10s, 20s, 30s all the way up to the 2000s, he'll even get some from the 1800s thanks to Dad and stat singing them. It is hilarious most of the time but other times it drives the family nuts even though they laugh at it. The press do know that he's ADHD but most tend to forget it since Tony found out when he was about six, so to them it's all old news and very few people really associate it with him. Tony doubts that even Natasha knows he's ADHD for one thing she would most certainly have included it in his file and mentioned it by now since she likes to blurt out his every mistake he's made.

Tony growls at his thoughts, he's going to make Natasha pay for that last one, it wasn't any of her business to go talking about his fight with Rhodey. Maybe he'll tie her shoes's laces to her hair or put blue hair dye into her shampoo, that would be funny. Or what if he tampers with her guns so that they only shoot out glitter bullets and not actual bullets when she's mad at him? Hey what about making all her knives blunt, that would be so cool, he could easily take them from her and maybe he'll paint her room red and gold? And what if–

"ALL RIGHT THAT'S IT!" Tony yells out loud which surprised him, he thought he'd been thinking that, anyway at least it made the voices shut up momentarily. Clearly he's been heard though because Nico and Angelo have both woken up and he can hear running downstairs. "Now look what you've done, you've woken up two of your children and alerted the Avengers so they think there's a problem. And you're talking to yourself great!" Tony mutters to himself. He tries to ignore his thoughts as he quickly settles both Nico and Angelo down to sleep though Angelo doesn't want to sleep again, what is it with babies and never sleeping? Maybe they're ADHD too? Could be, hey that would be fun to look into! Come on down too the lab for research and maybe Bruce will come too and we can do science together! Will he want to though? What if he hates us too? NO! He was defending us all the way last night! Yeah but what if–

"SHUT UP!" Tony yells again making Angelo cry even harder. He growls at himself for scaring him, he seriously needs his meds right now. Picking Angelo up he carries him along the corridor before quickly walking down the stairs whilst growling at his inner minds which are becoming very difficult to ignore. He was hoping to make his way to the kitchen quickly and grab his meds from the second drawer–one of the kids had been playing hide and seek with them again because they found his singing hilarious, he is actually a good singer just not really when he's off his meds. Unfortunately for him though the Avengers heard his yelling and are all waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs some with weapons out, Clint, Natasha and Cap. Tony sighs when he sees them already predicting sixteen reactions that will come from each of them.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Cap demands and Tony looks directly away from him not wanting to meet his gaze since he's trying to deal with a crying baby and a med free brain.

"Stark what's going on?" Clint asks and Tony just passes through them gritting his teeth hard so that he won't spew out words that he knows he'll regret.

"Tony what's wrong?" Cap asks but Tony still ignores him as he makes his way to the kitchen.

"Man of Iron what has befallen thee?" Thor asks calmly, lowering Mjolnir, hey when did he have Mjolnir? You seriously didn't see it before? Hey I was focused on ignoring! No kidding! Hey I wonder what that thing powers from? Can I play with it? No you'll destroy the house then both Pepper and Abigail will be mad at you. Oh come on! It'll be fun! No not with you, let Tony do it. But Tony's too serious and silly! I'm more fun! No you're not having it! Why not though? I could–

"YOU CAN DO NOTHING WITH IT!" Tony shouts startling all of the Avengers and making Angelo cry harder. Tony blinks and growls again as he turns back towards the kitchen and starts looking through the drawers too quickly for him to even register what he's seeing.

"Tony, are you alright?" Bruce asks calmly, he's been pretty worried when he'd seen Tony's face darken with frustration and staring at some unknown figure, but he'd been completely terrified when Tony shouted at them. Even the Hulk was startled but he didn't stir, he seemed to have a good idea what was going on with Tony and Bruce agreed with him for once. Tony must also have voices in his head as Hulk puts it.

"Take the baby from him, he's clearly abusing it." Clint says glaring at Tony as he continues opening more and more drawers whilst supporting a still crying baby in one arm, his face dark and lined with frustration.

"He's probably shouting at it because it was crying for food or nappy change." Natasha says also glaring at Tony who grits his teeth harder to avoid from lashing out verbally. Natasha makes a move towards him and tries to grab the baby but something hard and invisible knocks her back and Tony glares at her his eyes completely black, not even a speck of white visible. The sight scares her and the other Avengers before Tony clenches his eyes shut and takes a few deep breaths.

"Bruce," He says his voice strained in the effort to control himself. "Take Angelo from me please."

Bruce looks at him hesitantly before going up to where Natasha had been. The others watch cautiously as Bruce moves forward to stand where Natasha had been knocked back. He pauses a moment but nothing comes at him. He lets out a quiet breath before carefully taking Angelo, who's still crying a lot, from Tony and relaxing him into his arms before moving back to stand with Thor. He doesn't trust the baby near anyone else and the Hulk readily agrees with him and seems to have taken a liking to the baby even though he's still crying.

As soon as Bruce took Angelo Tony felt his body relax as some of the tension left him, knowing that he's now not going to hurt his son, Tony opens his completely black eyes and looks around. He's made quite a mess and the Avengers a watching him suspiciously apart from Bruce and Thor who are looking at him in concern. Tony ignores them and turns back to the drawer he opened before Natasha interrupted him, where he can clearly see his bottle of meds. He quickly grabs the bottle and takes the amount he needs and swallows them dry having no time to grab some water. He closes the bottle and just stands there bowed down over the kitchen island, not breathing once, gripping it so hard that his hands were turning bone white.

It was half an hour before anyone moved or a made a deep breath, Angelo had calmed down slightly thanks to Bruce, when Tony finally released his grip from the island. He let out a long quiet breath that released all the air that had been trapped in his body. Letting all the tension in his body disappear. He starts clearing up the mess he made on the floor and putting it back where it belonged then pocketed his meds before one of the assassins could take a look at them. His eyes are back to their usual brown when he turns to face the Avengers and he can feel them all relax somewhat at the sight. Natasha, Clint, and Cap and been completely petrified of him when Natasha had tried to grab the baby from him but couldn't.

Moving carefully, allowing his movements to be slow so they know that he isn't a threat, Tony walks up to Bruce and holds his arms out for Angelo. The assassins quickly block him, their eyes glaring at him. Tony's eyes flash completely black for a second but it's long enough for them to know he's not quite calm and they back away from Bruce. Bruce studies Tony for a moment before handing Angelo to him. Tony relaxes further when his son is back in his arms and begins whispering to him quietly in a mix of Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and–was that Greek? The Avengers follow him closely as he walks to the sofa in the living room, sitting down carefully and soon Angelo can be heard giggling in Tony's arms and trying to reach up to his face. Tony's smiling down at the little baby in his arms and playing with him for a while before Angelo begins to doze off once more.

When Angelo's asleep Tony finally looks up at the Avengers who are watching him nervously. Tony sighs, he can't keep this one a secret, not after what just happened there was no way. Might as well relax if I'm going to do this, Tony thinks and thankfully the voices remain quiet in his head. "Go on. Ask away." Tony says quietly.

"What the heck was that?!" Clint demands.

"Yeah what was wrong with you Stark?" Cap asks.

"I spent a year with him and he never acted like that at all. What are you keeping from us Stark?" Natasha asks suspiciously her eyes narrowing. Tony waits a moment before looking to Bruce and Thor who appear to have an idea as to what has happened. Thor surprises Tony a bit, Bruce he can understand due to the Hulk but Thor? Maybe Loki had or did something similar at one point? Never mind that doesn't matter.

"I have ADHD." Tony replies simply, making Natasha and Clint stare at him in shock whereas Thor and Cap look confused.

"I thought so." Bruce mutters and all attention turns to him. Bruce shrinks a little at the attention but doesn't elaborate.

"What's ADHD?" Cap asks looking from Bruce to Tony.

"Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder." Bruce says looking at Tony. "Basically Tony doesn't have a long concentration span, can't really control his impulses, and can be overactive. It makes socialising and family time difficult." They all look back at Tony who appears to be relaxed and just looks bored.

"But then why was he acting like that before? You know shouting? None of that really explains it Bruce." Clint asks looking at Tony nervously. Bruce turns to Tony who sighs and readjusts his position so that he's slightly laid down on the sofa with the sun shining on his body.

"It's because of the voices." Tony says, when he just receives blank stares he elaborates. "When you're ADHD you have a faster thinking span than anyone else you go by impulses and you are addicted to adrenaline. Because of how fast you think you don't have any time to actually filter what you're saying or doing. You move quickly from one thing to another with blinding speed and you constantly have what I call 'voices' speaking in your head, because you can be thinking so many things at once that you feel as though it's someone else speaking in your head. Now think of that and add it all next to the part where I am a genius. A genius's brain isn't quite as fast as someone with ADHD but it comes close enough that they experience a similar thing so if you mix those two together then you get my reaction in kitchen." He finishes and watches their faces as it sinks in. Natasha doesn't look happy about it, probably due to the scare he gave her, Clint appears to have reached a bit of a confused understanding and so does Thor. The Captain though is still confused.

"But why were you reacting so quickly and jumping from mood to mood?" He asks looking at him. Tony turns away and closes his eyes breathing deeply. His meds are still kicking in and he doesn't want to have another 'mood swing' as Abigail calls it.

"Because I can't just settle on one thing at a time. It goes the same way for anything I do I can't control it. The meds I take allow the front part of my brain to connect to the back of my brain that filters what I do. It's why ADHD people are adrenaline jockeys, because without any meds or adrenaline to help them control their motives there's very little control over what we do until after it's happened and we wonder why on Earth we did it. We also tend to start arguments to try and get the buzz that adrenaline gives us and can be irritated very easily." Tony explains. Cap finally appears to understand which is a huge relief, Tony prefers not to talk about his issues.

"When were you diagnosed?" Bruce asks quietly which Tony is thankful for, all the shouting and finding his meds really did a number on him.

"I was six. Dad took me surprisingly. I'd gotten bored when he was talking and started flitting through questions so fast that Dad literally couldn't say anything since I kept answering the questions myself. It's also why I talk so much." Tony says, he doesn't enjoy talking about his Dad but that particular day hadn't been as bad as the others so it was easier for him to talk about it.

"Why weren't we told about this?" Clint mutters to Natasha and Tony quickly butts in to defend Fury so that they won't go after him.

"It's been 21 years since I was diagnosed. The press went on a field trip with it for a few years but now if it's mentioned people just think it's fake or have simply forgotten about it. Even the Board of Directors forget that I'm ADHD and I have to remind them about it because they can't deal with my rambling." Tony says quickly before looking at his watch and curses loudly.

"Shoot I'm late!" He quickly but carefully gets off the sofa before passing Angelo to Bruce. "I told Abigail I'd pick up her kids from school since she had to go. I'll be back in a bit." Tony explains before promptly disappearing leaving the Avengers standing in shock.

"How on Earth did we miss that?" Clint asks staring after the man.

"No idea." Natasha says, albeit grudgingly. She was still going to talk to Fury about it.

Bruce just smiles at the two assassins and shakes his head slightly in amusement. "There is more to the Man of Iron than meets the eye." Thor says wisely.

* * *

**Hope you liked that, the ADHD thing just came to me because that's what it is like for me almost constantly-I haven't been diagnosed or anything but I don't always focus and do have a few 'mood swings' depending on how my day has been-and I couldn't think of what to put in the chapter and my mind was driving me nuts so I just wrote it like this. I hope you liked it. Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4 New Discoveries

**Chapter 4 New Discoveries**

It had been over twenty minutes since Tony had left and Bruce isn't sure what to do with Angelo. He hadn't woken up since Tony left but Bruce's arms were getting tired from carrying him everywhere and so that's how he found himself at the bottom of the stairs leading to the third floor. He'd been stood there quite a while, trying to decide whether to go up or not. After much more contemplating Bruce glances up at the ceiling before hesitantly addressing JARVIS. "JARVIS?"

"Yes Dr. Banner?" Came the reply and thankfully Bruce managed to stop himself from jumping at the human like voice.

"Is it okay for me to go upstairs to put Angelo to bed?" Bruce asks nervously, he's still a bit cautious of JARVIS after what happened in the kitchen with the guns.

"Yes Dr. Banner, Sir has amended his rules somewhat and believes it to be fine with you going upstairs as long as nothing is removed or taken." Came JARVIS's reply and Bruce stares at the ceiling in surprise, he hadn't expected Tony to allow him upstairs after just being in his house for one night. Still, he cautiously starts up the stairs and quickly finds himself facing a corridor with others branching off of it in different directions. The walls aren't white like the rest of the house as one would expect, but murals cover them. The one he's standing in has a mural of the sea at different times of the day some of it spraying up to the ceiling and others spreading on to the floor. It looks so real that Bruce has to blink a few times to remember that he's standing in a corridor and not outside on a beach. The floor is painted like sand with seashells and dark patches from where the sea has been pulled back. The other corridors are where it starts getting darker, one is at night time the other evening and there's another short one at day time.

"Who did this?" Bruce asks awestruck. He'd meant it rhetorically but JARVIS answered him anyway.

"Sir did this. He studied art in school and also received a PhD at MIT for his artwork." JARVIS replies and he somehow sounds proud if that's possible for an artificial intelligence. Bruce takes a guess as to where the bedrooms are by following the night time mural of the sea as it just fits. Surprisingly there's six doors in the corridor and it leaves Bruce completely unsure of which door to try without invading Tony's privacy. Nervously, Bruce goes for the first door on the right which leads him into a rather small bedroom with a king-sized bed two small sofas in a corner and then a wardrobe taking up one wall and another door possibly leading to a bathroom on the left. The wall ahead isn't a wall but a whole glass window where there's a view of the ocean crashing against the cliff. It's a truly magnificent sight and Bruce can understand why Tony wanted to paint it on the floor and walls.

Not wanting to invade Tony's privacy–as he's sure that it's his room–he turns around back to the door but a picture on the bedside table stops him in his tracks. It's a wedding photo and looking closer, Bruce just recognises Tony in a white suit and no goatee with a dark skinned woman with blue eyes both looking directly into the camera happily. They look to be no more than 18 years old and Bruce can bet the Hulk that it's Agent Hail in the picture despite the eyes being the wrong colour. "JARVIS, is this Tony and Agent Hail?" Bruce asks quietly as he stares at the photo.

"...Yes it is Dr. Banner. They were married on June 16th 1992." JARVIS answers somewhat hesitantly. "But this is private information so it would be appreciated if you didn't tell the other Avengers." JARVIS adds.

"Don't worry, I won't." Bruce tells JARVIS. He knows that the two assassins downstairs would have a run for their money if they knew what was up here. He quickly leaves the room and closes the door quietly and through trial and error eventually finds Angelo's door and puts him in bed when he hears crying in another room. He opens a door and sees a 2 or 3 year old little boy standing in his cot rubbing his eyes with one hand and clutching the frame with the other. Unlike Angelo he's dark skinned with chocolate coloured hair and blue-green eyes. Bruce wonders at the appearance of the child and how his genetics could have led to that but doesn't spend too long pondering due to the child still crying. He walks over to him and the child reaches up for him, his blue-green eyes like a puppy's completely impossible to resist. Bruce almost feels like some unseen power is making him pick him up.

"Can you talk?" Bruce whispers quietly to the child. He should be able to talk at his age by now right? He isn't very experienced with children and for good reason too. The toddler looks up into his eyes his own still tear-streaked and looking white around the rims instead of red. He nods briefly and almost minutely, as though he's shy. "What's your name?" Bruce asks a bit louder now. The child doesn't say anything just stares at something behind the scientist. When Bruce turns around to look behind him his mouth drops in shock and disbelief. In front of him is one word built out of toys and pieces of furniture from around the room spelling out the word: Nico.

It takes Bruce a moment to recover from his shock and looks back at the child in his arms who's smiling almost proudly at his creation. "That's amazing Nico." Bruce says sincerely and Nico's smile widens and he starts wriggling a little and his creation quickly falls apart and the pieces fly back to where they were before in the large room. Nico points to the door and Bruce is forced by some unseen push to go out of the door, though he does take care to shut the door so no one knows he was up here. As soon as the door closes it promptly disappears along with all the other doors along the corridor and Bruce soon finds himself staring directly at a wall that had not been there previously when he came down the hall and his pulse begins to raise in panic.

"Do not worry Dr. Banner. It is all just an illusion that Sir created to prevent people from seeing anything he doesn't want them to see. You can walk through it." JARVIS says startling Bruce. Nico laughs at his expression and claps his hands clearly thinking it was a joke of some sort.

"How-how come they weren't there before?" Bruce stutters over his shock.

"...Because Sir was away and you needed to put Master Angelo to bed." JARVIS starts hesitantly. Bruce looks up at the ceiling in question but before he can speak JARVIS speaks again. "Also Sir has just returned home so I would suggest getting to the stairs before he finds you up here." He says in a rush and somewhat panicky, if that is possible for an artificial intelligence anyway.

Heeding his warning, Bruce quickly and quietly runs down the corridor and does his best not to close his eyes when going through some of the illusions. He quickly reaches the stairs to the second level and pauses for a moment to calm his racing heart even though the Hulk isn't preparing an appearance currently. After assuring himself that he wasn't going to Hulk out Bruce makes his way quietly down the steps and starts to walk to the second set of stairs that lead to the ground level when he feels a hand on his shoulder. Bruce spins around startled and stares into the eyes of Hawkeye who looks very amused with his reaction, yet serious.

"Are you okay Bruce? You don't need to panic, you're not kidnapping the child." Hawkeye says in amusement and removes his hand form his shoulder. Bruce relaxes somewhat and the Hulk moves away not quite sure whether to come out or not but stays neutral for now.

"Sorry, I know, you just startled me and JARVIS told me Tony was back." Bruce says. Hawkeye nods then turns his eyes to the child in question and Bruce quickly spurts out the first thing in his mind in explanation. "I heard him wandering around down here and found him at the bottom of the stairs to the third floor. He was crying so I thought it would be best to take him to Tony or Agent Hail if she's back." Bruce says and thankfully the archer accepts the lie, after all it's mostly true anyway.

"Well we should probably head downstairs." Hawkeye says and Bruce starts down the stairs with Hawkeye close behind. He can tell he's still suspicious of Bruce but he doesn't say anything else. At the bottom of the stairs Bruce stops in surprise when he sees three children by the sofas with Tony. One is a boy who has black and brown hair with white-blue eyes and very pale skin and appears to be the oldest though no older than nine or ten. He looks a lot like Tony. The other two are girls who would appear to be twins except one has almost black skin with brown eyes and silver hair whilst the other is white with brown and blonde hair with navy coloured eyes. Bruce blinks a few times to try and grasp what he's seeing and he can see the other Avengers doing the same, even Thor appears surprised. Tony is just watching their expressions in amusement, clearly enjoying the confusion the children are creating around them. However his amusement quickly vanishes when he sees Nico in Bruce's arms and his expression turns serious.

"What are you doing up Nico?" He asks and Bruce sees Nico shrink back slightly under his father's gaze. Bruce rubs his arm in comfort to ease him though it has very little effect.

"Dada." Nico's voce is soft and nervous, holding much more expression than one would expect from a two year old and Bruce is afraid that he's given Tony away when Tony just smiles softly before coming over and taking Nico from Bruce's arms.

"Dada's not here. He's away remember?" Tony says and Nico's face saddens. Tony holds him closely and hugs him tightly when the darker-skinned girl speaks.

"When will he be coming home?" Her voice is high but quiet as she watches those around us nervously.

"I don't know, it all depends when he has time off work but it may not be for quite a while." Tony replies and the children's shoulders slump slightly and Bruce can see Tony worrying his lip as if he's not sure whether to say something else. "But..." He waits for their attention to pick up again. "I can always ask Fury to make sure he can come earlier since your mother is pregnant again." Their faces light up and it's almost as there's been an explosion as they all start talking at once.

The children buzz around him asking questions in language that even Thor appears not understand before Tony raises his hands to silence them, which is rather difficult since he's still holding Nico. "Slow down kids, I can't answer all of your questions." He says with a chuckle before Black Widow speaks up.

"Really Stark? I thought you said you knew everything." She says with a raised eyebrow and a slightly mocking expression can be seen on her face. Tony's face darkens and the children all glare at her which is actually rather terrifying.

"You think," Tony starts, his voice has dropped an octave making him seem even more menacing. "that I would stoop so low as to know the 'goings-on' of my friend's wife?" He asks rhetorically and there's a small flash of black across his eyes which makes the others in the room tense.

"Yet you know that she's pregnant?" Natasha says with a raised eyebrow as a hand twitches towards the gun in it's holster. Black threatens to overcome Tony's eyes but he fights it off.

"She told me that. I didn't know of it before. But she knows that she has a higher chance of seeing her husband sooner if I ask Fury than if she does." Tony answers and turns away from her.

"So, what are the children's names?" Cap asks, trying to ease the tension in the room as Natasha's hand twitches towards her gun again. Tony turns to face him and takes a moment to answer.

"That's Alejandro," He says pointing to the boy, then at the white skinned girl and her sister. "That's Almira and Angela." He puts his hand down and Alejandro goes over and takes Nico from him. "Thanks Alejandro, I'll be in the lab I've got some company work to do." Tony says and promptly disappears from view.

"So, do you always stay with Stark?" Cap asks Alejandro in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had sprung up after Stark left.

"We live here permanently." Alejandro responds as he plays with Nico on the floor. The two girls appear to be doing some homework on the couch.

"Permanently?" Hawkeye says in surprise, Alejandro smirks at his expression.

"We've been living here since before I was born. As you've probably already seen, Mum is good friends with Mr. Stark as is Dad. He owed them a favour and because of their... genetics I guess, it makes it difficult for them to get jobs or find places to live, especially because of us." Alejandro says and turns away.

"Why?" Widow asks suspiciously. Alejandro frowns at her before standing and begins to glow brightly as wings suddenly appear from his back spread out widely. Widow pulls out her gun and aims it at him as do the others but out of nerves. It is easy to tell that Widow is doing it out of anger and distrust.

"Stop!" Bruce shouts as they make to advance. They all turn to him to see his eyes blazing a frightful emerald green. The children also have a stance up ready to defend themselves when Bruce shouts at the Avengers. They turn their weapons on him, except for Thor who goes and stand next to the children as well as Bruce whilst he fights for control. "They are no threat." Widow glares at him hardly for that but he returns it just as easily causing her to take a small step back. "Nico showed me his powers upstairs. Even though he is a two year old he has amazing control over his power and I have no doubt that the same goes for the older children. Also I don't want to destroy anything in Tony's home or hurt anyone so I recommend you lower your weapons." Cautiously they lower their weapons but Widow takes longest. Once it's away she disappears saying something about talking to Fury. Hawkeye sighs but doesn't go after her.

"Sorry about that Alejandro. She can be a bit prejudiced at times." Hawkeye says before he goes and sits on the sofa by the children who step back. "I won't hurt you, we've all just been a bit jumpy since Loki was sent back to Asgard." Hawkeye says quietly, his eyes become haunted when he mentions Loki and he closes his eyes briefly.

"It's okay." Alejandro says somewhat nervously. "Just don't let it happen again. We will use our powers if we feel threatened." He warns him before going and sitting on the floor with Nico again and playing with some blocks that were on the floor and just like that conversations start up between the Avengers and the children with a calm atmosphere that leaves Bruce smiling. Maybe things will work out for all of them.

* * *

**Sorry for the late update, school work has really piled on lately and my computer didn't save my work so I had to rewrite the whole chapter, I hope you like this though! Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5 Complications

**Chapter 5 Complications**

Tony wasn't actually doing work in the lab. He had started doing work that way he wasn't lying when he told the Avengers he had work to do, but it only lasted two minutes. He's currently pacing around the room–or more like around his table–trying to figure out what to do. He knew Bruce knew abut his marriage thanks to JARVIS and that the children are obviously his own but so far he hasn't so much as hinted at it let alone mentioned it. Tony knows he can trust Bruce but the others, not so much. He saw through the security cameras what happened upstairs when Alejandro showed them his powers. He'd expected what had happened with Cap, Hawkeye and Bruce. Thor he wasn't so sure about but he guessed that it was because of what happened with Loki that he defended his children. Romanoff he hadn't been sure about. He'd expected a bad reaction but not one as bad as pulling her gun on his children. He'd nearly charged up there with his wings out and eyes flaming blue, black, and white had it not been for Bruce.

He isn't sure what he's going to do about the other Avengers. He's pretty sure he can trust Thor with his secret–the one about his marriage that is–but he's not sure about the captain, possibly Hawkeye but he's well past trusting Natasha again, especially after what she just did, but Tony can sense that she's had experiences with mutants before that most definitely have not been good. Right now however, Tony's waiting for his call from Fury and later Nicholas who he has yet to hear from. Eventually he gives up pacing and tries to get back into his 'working phase' as Pepper calls it but to no avail. He ends up throwing more projects across his garage than making any of them.

Sighing Tony leans back in his stool–he has very good balance on stools from years of experience–with one hand pressed against his forehead as he tries to think what to do about the Avengers and his family. He's going to have to appear as the Black Eagle at some point to prove what he was saying about the family but when that will be he has no idea. There's so much work to do and not only for SI but for SHIELD as well and his work with Charles Xavier with the mutants since he is one of their teachers at the school.

Tony's just starting to fall asleep when his phone rings and then JARVIS announces that another two callers are trying to get him and that Bruce is heading down the stairs to the garage. Suddenly panicking Tony orders JARVIS to sort out the most important call first so that Bruce won't hear anything else that could be to do with his secrets. The first caller is Pepper, thank goodness.

"Hello?" Tony asks tiredly just as JARVIS allows Bruce access into the garage. He stays quiet, clearly not wanting to interrupt the call.

"Tony you were meant to be at a meeting half an hour ago." Pepper reprimands him, her voice a bit scolding. Tony sighs, he'd known there was a meeting and had been planning to go but with the things going on in New York and with the Avengers living in his home and mutants and his family... The list goes on and he's exhausted especially since it is so soon after the battle as well.

"I know Pepper, but the Avengers have moved in with me, Abigail's busy with work and Black Eagle doesn't know when he'll be coming, I'm just exhausted." Tony says quietly. Pepper remains silent on the other end. She knows that Abigail and the Black Eagle live with Tony as she's met them both and she's good friends with them, but she doesn't know that it's Tony's family also she didn't know about the Avengers moving into his home so that's another thing.

"You never told me they were moving in." Pepper says her tone questioning.

"It happened last night, pretty last minute really, but there's been a few issues where some of them have been pushing the buttons a little too much." Tony replies.

"Is that Natalie then? Or Natasha or whatever her name is." Pepper asks.

"Black Widow yes, Hawkeye did it for a while as well but I bet that's just from what Natasha's said about me, same goes for the Captain. Thor and Bruce are fine but I'm not sure about the others yet." Tony says and he can see Bruce's form straighten a little bit by the door at the mention of his name.

"Okay, well I'll try and get you some extra time off so you can sort things out but I will be sending you emails with things that are needed at the moment okay Tony?" She asks and Tony knows that he's not going to be able to get out of doing that work no matter how tired he is.

"Yeah okay, I've got to go now, I have another two callers on hold."

"Okay, I might come over later and see if I can help with anything okay?" Pepper asks him gently making Tony smile slightly.

"Thanks Pep, I'll see you later." He cuts the call then quickly turns to Bruce. "JARVIS can you tell my callers to call me back later, you know the times. I want to talk with Bruce."

"Of course Sir." JARVIS replies naturally. Tony beckons Bruce forward who comes closer to him nervously, his glasses in his hands.

"I don't mean to intrude on your work Tony–" Bruce starts.

"It's fine Bruce, I don't mind plus I can solve problems very quickly when it comes to talking so the callers won't be too mad." He pauses then looks at Bruce who seems as though he's about to burst. "Go ahead, I know you have questions."

"How come no one knows you're married?" Bruce spurts out then looks down embarrassed. Tony's a bit surprised that he asked that question first really, he'd expected him to ask about the children or Black Eagle.

"It was kept quiet. I got engaged before my parents died. We were going to keep it quiet for a few years before bringing it into the public so that we'd have more time to 'grow up' I guess. But when they died we decided that it would be best not to let anyone know, there were already enough rumours going around about me so we 'cut contact' with each other publicly so that the press wouldn't come after us." Tony explains. Bruce nods in understanding, he knows to some degree what it's like to have rumours being spread about you that are false.

"And the Black Eagle?" He asks, the rest of the expression in his tone. Tony sighs and stands up before spreading his wings out to their full length behind his back so that Bruce can see the power they hold within them. Focusing on his power he allows it to radiate around him, showing his true form for the first time in front of a stranger. His goatee instantly disappears form his face making him look younger and the scars that line his face are highlighted by the glow of his power. His hair changes colour to match that of Alejandro's but with a few white and blue highlights going through it. His eyes are black with neon blue irises and white pupils. His clothes change so that it looks as though he's dressed in feathers that wrap on his body.

Bruce stares at him, unable to do anything else, he hadn't been expecting this, then again no one ever does expect something like that from a mutant. A mutant able to hide their power and appearance from someone who can sense differences is a very powerful mutant indeed. Ever since Bruce became the Hulk, he's been able to sense these types of things in other people like the Captain, although he wasn't born with his abilities he can still sense the difference. After another minute of staring coming from Bruce, Tony hides his power again and folds his wings behind his back and his clothes reappear once more around his body. Bruce stares at him in awed fascination. It was remarkable to him how easily Tony can hide his identity in plain sight.

"When did you-how long have you been a mutant?" Bruce stutters, not entirely sure what to say.

"Since I was born. How you see me now is a disguise. Luckily for my parents, my doctor was a mutant who had warned them that I could possibly be one since the gene comes from both of my parents though they didn't know they had it. So they kept me out of the public eye for a while, using technology to change my appearance in the pictures before I learnt to hide my appearance. I was three when I finally managed to do it which made it both easier and harder for our family." Tony finishes and Bruce stares at a point in the wall as he takes it in. Tony's been dealing with his differences since before he was born and Bruce only a few years, yet he acts as though he's the most normal of all the Avengers. He's basically been acting since he was two or three.

"The children, they must go to that mutant school right?" Tony nods in response. Bruce appears to be taking it rather well, but it probably helps that he's been the Hulk for a few years so it's understandable.

"Do you have any other... abilities?" He asks almost shyly. Tony nods again and suddenly Bruce finds himself staring at the Iron Man suit with Tony standing right next it, his face lit up with amusement at Bruce's shock.

"I can control and communicate with technology and hack into anything with a single thought." Tony says and it makes Bruce wonder about the bots he can see in the room and JARVIS. Clearly following his train of thought Tony answers his unspoken questions. "I made JARVIS as a way of 'explaining' to the Board of Directors why I can do so many things with technology. The bots are my helpers and friends, as is JARVIS. It can be a bit 'same-old, same-old' just doing it yourself and not always as fun." Bruce nods in response and starts wandering around the lab a bit as he takes in the technology.

"Sir, your second caller is coming in again." JARVIS says and Tony quickly puts the Iron Man suit away with his mind and clears away the mess in the room before turning to Bruce.

"Don't tell anyone about this Bruce." He says sternly and Bruce nods in a promise. "You're welcome to stay but I'll be going into a private area for the rest of my calls so again if you need something, ask JARVIS." Tony quickly walks through a wall behind him which solidifies to ensure that there will be no interruptions and puts the call through onto the screen since he san tell that it is a video.

"Stark." Is the first word said and heard in the room. Tony inclines his head in acknowledgement.

"Yes Fury?" Tony asks though he already knows what the call is about.

"Romanoff has reported to me your behaviour this morning and last night. Frankly I do not appreciate you scaring my Agents." Fury says though Tony can see the amusement in his eyes over how Natasha reacted.

"Well I can't say that she didn't deserve it." Tony says looking down at his hands briefly before looking up again. "Anyway I don't appreciate what your agents have been doing and saying here so I hope you'll make it clear to them the expectations of staying in my home." Tony says slightly threateningly.

"I will talk to them in half an hour, though you may want to de–" Tony cuts in.

"Already done Fury. Just make sure the agents know the rules and we're fine." Tony says looking at him sternly. Fury nods with a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"You are very much like your father when you are serious Tony." If that was said by anyone else it would be taken as an insult, but from Fury it's quite the compliment. Tony nods before responding.

"By the way, Agent Hail's put in a request for her husband to come home early." Tony states clearly so that Fury knows there's only going to be one outcome from this, Tony's outcome. Fury scowls at him briefly.

"He's working, tell me the reason and I'll send him once he finishes the work if it's necessary." Fury says watching Tony closely. Tony's face remains nonchalant as he answers him.

"She's pregnant." He states and watches in amusement as Fury's eye almost pops out of it's socket.

"But she just had a baby!" Fury says his voice slightly filled with surprise. Tony rolls his eyes at the response and gives him the sarcastic are-you-serious look.

"Yes and she's pregnant again, and don't ask me why!" He adds as Fury opens his mouth for more information. "You're going to have to ask her or her husband because I'm not going to go into that, as far as I know it wasn't expected." He says and Fury's lips press together in the way that Tony knows he's thinking.

"I'll send him immediately. As long as he finishes the work first." He says with a pointed look at Tony.

"That's fine with me, but if you'll excuse me Fury I have another call to attend to and I may be out of range for a while as I have a lot of work to do." Fury nods as he knows that he's talking about the family and SI. The call quickly ends and Tony mentally finishes the Black Eagle's work and sends it straight to the database so that he is free of SHIELD work. He quickly pulls up the next video call which is coming from Charles Xavier. He reveals his true appearance–excepting the feathers around his body, even the mutants haven't seen his true appearance yet or know who he really is–and hides his Arc Reactor with his power before the video is shown in front of him.

He's surprised to see Jean, Scott, and Wolverine with Charles but hides it from them perfectly. He inclines his head in greeting and Charles does the same except with a smile on his face. "Black Eagle, it is good to see you again. I hope you are doing well after recent events?" Charles says, Tony's eyes contract a bit as he thinks of the battle with Loki, Black Eagle had been completely out of contact with the mutants for two months before that had happened.

"I am fairing well aside from a few minor injuries." Black Eagle replies his voice two octaves lower than it usually is. Wolverine raises an eyebrow at his words.

"Injuries?" He asks, the rest of the question is in his eyes.

"I had an encounter with Loki–" Jean gasped. "–he tried to get me on his side, when I refused he attempted to take control over me. Fortunately it didn't work though my injuries from the event are still healing." He says, keeping his eyes on Xavier.

"How bad are they?" He asks him quietly.

"Not too bad, mostly just bruises and sore muscles. Nothing serious, I should be healed within the next few days." Black Eagle says his voice nonchalant.

"Will you be able to come to the school? We are in need of a teacher and to discuss some matters that have arisen." Charles asks. Black Eagle hesitates before answering.

"I don't know yet. There's a few things going on here, but I'll come as soon as I can." He pauses then asks a question. "Should Elementa come too?" Elementa is Abigail's mutant name as she can control the elements, hence the name 'Elementa'.

"You know where she is?" Jean asks astonished, the mutants don't know they're married either just know them as good friends.

"Yes I do." He sees Scott raise his eyebrows and turns his stare on him. "Don't try and mess with her if she comes Cyclops. She's pregnant at the moment and you know what her powers are like when you mess with her." Scott swallows slightly at the threat but doesn't say anything else.

"She's pregnant? I thought she already had her baby?" Wolverine asks his eyes narrowed.

"She did but she's pregnant again. It was unexpected like the last one." Black Eagle says his voice bored with the conversation.

"How far along is she?" Charles asks trying to get back on topic.

"She's roughly a month, maybe more she didn't say." Black Eagle says then freezes as he hears someone near the wall he came through. He turns around and using his technopathic abilities he can see Black Widow moving around the lab using stealth tech whilst Bruce is running a chemistry test in the far corner. "I need to go." Black Eagle says and the call ends abruptly. Changing his appearance again Tony waits for Black Widow to move away from the wall and face the opposite direction. Once she's far enough away to be safe Tony quickly steps through the wall and smiles inwardly when it solidifies again. He can still see Natasha standing near Bruce, peeking over his shoulder. Even from here Tony can sense her emotions and it appears she has a bit of a crush on Bruce which is rather surprising given their history isn't long and didn't really start well.

"You know it's rude to spy on people." Tony says loudly, making both Bruce and Natasha jump. Thankfully Bruce didn't spill or knock anything over when he turned around to see Tony smirking. "I mean I know that it's in your nature Widow, but still you're not going to get a date by spying on someone." He can see her shock on her face and the glare in her eyes since she thinks he can't see her.

"What are you talking about Tony? She's upstairs." Bruce asks confused but isn't judging him, after all he had seen the Black Eagle so he'll know that he's telling the truth but isn't sure how it can be possible.

"Come clean Widow, I know you're there." Tony says and Natasha reluctantly reveals herself making Bruce jump in surprise when she appears next to him.

"How did you know I was in here?" She demands rather than explaining herself.

"I have my ways. But seriously I don't think Bruce is going to date you if you spy on him." Bruce stares at the two surprised then blushes deeply at the meaning in Tony's words. Natasha goes a bit red too but decides to glare at him instead. "By the way, I have now blocked your old code for getting into the lab so as soon as you're done in here you won't be coming back in." Tony says smoothly, making her eyes light up in anger.

"I'm doing work here Stark. Fury told me to–" She starts.

"Na ah ah! I was just talking to Fury and he said nothing about you coming down here to spy on us or 'keep an eye' on us. So don't try that rubbish with me." Tony says sternly before heading over to Bruce's chemical equation and taking a peak. "Hm... you skipped the Hydrochloric acid Bruce. I know I tend to make explosions a lot but I'd prefer it if you didn't set off a bomb in my home." He says as the chemicals begin bubbling rapidly.

"Oh!" Bruce says and quickly adds the chemical in it causing the bubbles to die down.

"Crisis averted. But I think it's time we all ate something now don't you?" He says in such a way leaving no room for argument. They both nod and follow him up the stairs into the living room. Cap is sat on the sofa with Clint who's showing him how to use the remote control though it doesn't appear to be going well, Cap's face is turning red in frustration. Thor can be heard from the kitchen eating who knows what and the children are either doing homework or playing chess, Tony hates that game most of the time. He can never focus long enough to play and has already thought of several possible moves that he could do as well as his opponent, it's worse when he's off his medication, but when he can focus there's no beating him.

Tony smiles at the sight, considering what had happened only 44.678 minutes before–yes he timed–it's quite a nice sight to see. There's a whoop of victory from the coffee table in front of the sofa where Alejandro has beaten Almira at chess, again. Almira just glares at him her eyes turn a frightening neon blue. The pieces all come to life and start attacking the king in such a way that the 'head' get's chopped off leaving the other pieces worn down surrounding the king and his severed head.

"Hey! That's cheating, and c'mon I just replaced him!" Alejandro says in frustration. Almira sticks her tongue out at him.

"Well maybe you should consider playing with someone else! Or stop cheating yourself!" Almira yells at him, bringing everyone's attention to them.

"I don't cheat!" Alejandro denies her but his eyes hold a glimmer of fear that only Tony can currently see. Almira's eyes flare again at him.

"Liar! You cheated last time and this time! Dad!" Almira shouts and looks around the room for Tony.

"Dad's not here Almira." Alejandro quickly states. Almira just scowls at him and is about to send all of the pieces straight at him when Angela pops up.

"Tony..." She says somewhat hesitantly, not used to saying her father's name. Tony looks at her and the mini un-proclaimed war is put on hold as Alejandro and Almira look between Angela and Tony to try and figure out what she's planning.

"Yes?" Tony asks walking up to the two quarrelling siblings.

"Was Alejandro cheating?" She asks and another flicker of fear happens across Alejandro's face briefly. Hawkeye–who either lost interest or patience with helping Cap handle the remote during the discussion–stares at her like she's crazy, as does Widow.

"How's he going to know? One he wasn't even in here, two I've been watching you two play the whole time and Alejandro wasn't cheating." He says strongly, showing that he knows it's not possible for Alejandro to have cheating. Tony raises an eyebrow at him and ignores his comment, choosing to kneel on one leg so that he can look Alejandro straight in the eye. Alejandro swallows quietly as he tries to keep his eyes and expression completely poker. At first he does alright, but staring straight into his father's knowing gaze for three minutes straight breaks him.

"Alright! I cheated, happy?" He proclaims turning away from his father who's laughing quietly to himself as Almira follows through on her unspoken threat and sends the chess pieces to attack him including the recently beheaded king who's somehow managed to stick his head back on. "Hey!" He yells in shock and Tony turns away from them and head to the kitchen to make some sandwiches. The other Avengers follow him save Thor who is enjoying the comedy of the two siblings fight.

"How did you know?" Natasha asks abruptly as Tony places a hundred and ten slices of bread on the island in stacks of ten, and grabs to large tubs of peanut butter and strawberry jam along with two knives and the butter dish. He raises an eyebrow at her causing her to just glare at him and he sighs before answering.

"I was watching him when I came in and during the conversation. Alejandro's eyes held fear when Angela called me to their attention and no one–" He says looking pointedly at Natasha and Hawkeye. "–can withstand my gaze when it's upon them. I can make anyone spill their darkest secrets if I wish to." He says having now buttered and spread peanut butter onto thirty five pieces of bread before switching to adding strawberry jam onto another thirty five that leaves the Avengers staring at him in amazement.

"How are you so good at it though?" Cap asks looking up briefly at him when he speaks before returning his gaze to the seventy made and cut sandwiches now resting on several plates on the island.

"Dad taught me." Tony answers his voice slightly strained at the mention of his father. Cap looks at him with a strange expression which Tony ignores. He's not about to go into his past for Captain Spangles here.

"Take these to the kids and that stack to Thor. The rest is for you guys." Tony says pointing at different plates. Cap takes Thor's large stack-on-a-plate whilst the others grab their own ad the children's. Tony quickly bites into half a sandwich as he puts away the peanut butter, jam, and butter dish. He finishes his two sandwiches and quickly washes the sticky jam off of his fingers. He enters the living room and is heading towards the lab when he's confronted by–three guesses who and the first two are wrong–Thor.

"Where are you going Man of Iron?" He asks with a puzzled look on his face. "Are you not eating?"

"I already ate Thor, and I'm leaving for a couple of days, weeks maybe." He answers him as he starts to slowly move down the staircase.

"Why are you leaving?" Bruce asks and Tony suddenly finds everyone's attention on him. Usually it wouldn't bother him but right now he really just wants to turn invisible and leave without them realising, like Bilbo Baggins.

"I've got a lot of work that needs to be done, mainly in New York. But I won't be able to be contacted for private reasons." He adds at Natasha's suspicious stare. "Fury knows about it and Agent Hail will be back soon to keep an eye on things and he's sending another... associate to help as well. Now if you'll excuse me I must be going now." With that he descends the staircase at a moderate pace before they can ask any further questions. Once in the lab he quickly calls a suit over to him and leaves the mansion heading in the direction of New York. Once he's far enough away he drops down in a deserted area of a small park and steps out of the suit before having JARVIS send it to the tower in New York to help with some of the repairs.

He takes in a deep breath of the fresh Californian air and relaxes his muscles before once again allowing his power to spread around him. When he opens his eyes again he's no longer Tony Stark or Iron Man, but the Black Eagle. He stretches his wings once again. Blue, black, and white Feathers cover him neck to toes but his eyes are a vibrant blue against a black background, different to how it is with Tony. His memories are different also, as though watching through a fogged window, only the important things from before in the forefront of his mind. He stares ahead of him and suddenly sets off at a run gaining speed quickly as his wings work to get him in the air. He flies high above the clouds so that he remains unseen by anyone on the ground and whoops in delight as he rises and twists in the air with his tricks, not caring about anything going on on the ground. His exhilaration of seeing his children and wife again stop him from realising the mistake he made. He hadn't paid enough attention to what was around him when he shifted to the Eagle.

"Mystique do you have information on the mutant's whereabouts?" A deep strong voice murmurs through a speaker on a phone. Mystique holds the phone to her ear before answering, her gaze lingering on the clouds the Black Eagle had just disappeared through.

"No, but I've found an even better ally, exact location yet to be confirmed." She responds. She'd been walking through the park after receiving information that a mutant with strong powers would be passing through. She hadn't seen one but she'd heard a noise in the bushes to her right and had quietly crept towards them. She'd expected to find an animal or possibly the mutant she was sent for but was surprised when she saw the Black Eagle his wings spread out widely behind him, feathers covering him from neck to toes with blue and black eyes staring straight at her. She'd frozen in fear at the sight. She'd heard rumours about the magnificence and image of the Black Eagle but it was one thing to hear and another to see. He was far more terrifying than she'd expected and his body radiated with his power. She was afraid he'd seen her when he started running towards her but had been relieved when he'd flown straight up to the sky instead. Immediately she'd pulled out her phone and contacted her 'superiors'.

"And who might that be?" The voice pulls her from her thoughts and she responds sharply to the irritating voice.

"The Black Eagle, he's in California." She cuts communication and adopts a young pale woman with short blond hair in a jogging suit and starts off in the direction she'd seen the Eagle head in. _If only we all had wings or at least decent tracking systems._ She thought longingly to herself.

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**Sorry for**** the late update, school has really piled on the work and my exams start this week! *screaming in terror* Anyway I hope you like this chapter and please review! I don't care if it's good or bad feedback (as long as there's no swearing or blasphemy) but I would like to know how you think the story's going. **

**Hope you're having a better time than I am!**

**Mairai688**


	6. Chapter 6 The Black Eagle - Natasha

**Chapter 6 The Black Eagle**

It had been oddly quiet after Tony had left, no one was really sure what to do with themselves especially now that they were alone with the children without someone who knew how to deal–no look after them. Hawkeye had headed back to the TV and started surfing through the channels. Widow soon joined him whilst keeping a hesitant eye on the children, she trusted them even less without Tony around. Even though she disliked him and his behaviour she'd felt slightly safe with him around since he knew how to act with the children, for her she's in the deep end, the unknown and she doesn't like it. The reason she'd really gone down to the lab was to question him about the children and what to do but when she found he wasn't there she switched to stealth mode in case he tried to jump out at her. She'd made her way around the room watching for any sign of movement when she noticed Bruce in a corner of the garage working with dome chemicals. Even though the Hulk had scared her immensely, she admired the quiet doctor for his calm nature and personality as well as the fact that he can deal with Stark. That's something that does not come to anyone without years of hard work so for him to be able to almost immediately definitely brings him high respect from her, which is something she rarely gives out.

To say she was surprised when Stark suddenly appeared out of nowhere would be an understatement. He'd completely startled her which is practically impossible for anyone to do, even Clint. She'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she'd missed where he came from. Stupid secret hideouts, she'd thought to herself. What had surprised her most though was that he knew exactly where she was and seemed to be able to see her expressions as well and she's not sure how that could be possible. After attempting to lie her way out of her predicament instead of admitting why she was there and that he'd surprised–startled–her she'd gone ahead of Bruce and Tony in order to think over what had happened down there and how she had missed Tony coming into the room. Also she couldn't help thinking about what he'd said about her and Bruce along with his reaction. How was it that that man seemed to know everything that was going on?

She added her new questions to the to-be-found-out-as-soon-as-possible list that had been building up since she arrived at his 'house'. Right now, however, she was going to call Fury about Stark she didn't trust what he'd said when he'd left and his manor had been off more than it had been since their arrival. She hadn't liked his silent threats either or the loud ones for that matter. She'd thought she'd done a good job on her report of Stark and his behaviour but actually living in his house with others and the Avengers has presented him in a whole new light, one she hadn't ever expected to see. The way he'd been able to get information out of Alejandro and full of power and authority was both incredible and terrifying. She had never believed him threatening or anything close and neither had the others apparently, but that had changed slightly when they saw, on camera, his threat to Loki and now his threats to them.

She leaves the Avengers and children downstairs as she quickly makes to her bedroom and pulls out her communicator. She switches it to hologram mode so that she can see Fury when he picks up, it takes a moment and despite all her abilities Natasha finds herself becoming impatient. Another three rings and Fury finally 'appears' in her bedroom looking slightly annoyed at her.

"Yes Agent Romanoff?" He asks his tone bored and stating I'm-not-in-the-mood-for-any-rubbish-right-now. Natasha swallows minutely but she knows that Fury saw it but he doesn't so much as twitch an eyebrow at her.

"Something's up with Stark. He left earlier claiming to have work to do but he wouldn't say where and I can't track him." She states clearly keeping her manor professional. This time Fury does raise an eyebrow at her but the rest of his expression remains the same.

"He's going away. I called him earlier and he requested to have some time away. I know where he is and I do not need you to track him and it is not for you to know his motives right now." He says firmly, if Natasha had been any other person her jaw would've gone slack and her expression surprised. As it is all she does is raise her eyebrows slightly in response.

"When will he be coming back?" She asks.

"Whenever he wants. Not for a while at least, but the Black Eagle should be arriving soon so you needn't worry about the children and you will not attack them, they are innocent." He says his eyebrow narrowing in warning at her. She breathes in quietly and nods in response. She knew of the Black Eagle of course but she'd never met him. Very few agents ever saw him and even then it was only for a few seconds at maximum. Only the top members of SHIELD ever communicated with him or saw him for that matter and she had yet to gain a status high enough to meet him. He was SHIELD's top agent along with a mutant called Elementa but she hadn't even met her yet as the same level of status is needed to meet her. So for her to be meeting at least one of them definitely had her slightly excited but also wary, the rumours of the Black Eagle were magnificent and terrifying and she wasn't sure she was ready to meet the top agent in the world.

"Very well sir." She responds and the call disconnects. She quickly puts away her communicator away and heads back downstairs to see Clint playing Mario Carts with Alejandro and Angela whereas Almira is watching Steve sketch a picture of something outside. She looks around hesitantly for Nico and spots him resting in Agent Hail's arms on the sofa. She looks up at her when she comes in and stares at her carefully.

"Is something wrong Agent Romanoff?" She asks and Natasha's surprised that she has managed to pick up on her mood. She must be better than I thought she was, she thinks to herself. Agent Hail's question brings everyone's attention to her and she holds her head slightly higher and her position firm.

"I just spoke with Director Fury," Agent Hail raises her eyebrow and the others tense aside from who just watches curiously from where he appeared from the kitchen. "he told me the Black Eagle is coming." Clint stands in shock as he glances around the room for any sign or possibility of the Eagle already being in the room. Cap and Thor just look at her confused whereas Bruce simply looks surprised, again Natasha finds herself admiring the man for his control of emotions. The children however stare at her as does their mother whose eyes are wide in her surprise.

"When will he be here?" Agent Hail asks her and a deep male voice speaks up before Natasha can respond.

"I'm already here."

Natasha whips around to face a man covered in feathers of colours varying from blue, black, and white. His hair is black and brown with a touch of blue and white. But it's his eyes and wings that capture the attention and hold the power. His eyes are blue in a black background with no visible iris whereas his wings hold all the previously mentioned colours and appear large although she cannot see them as they drag behind him. There's silence then a sudden chorus of "Daddy!" from the children before he's literally crowded by them as they fight each other over who gets to hug him first. His laugh in deep and coils like a spring. His wings suddenly appear from behind his back and they are indeed large, possibly 12 or 13ft long as they wrap easily around the children and hold them close to him.

"Missed me have you?" He asks in a deep chuckle they all chorus different versions of "Yes" and hug him fiercely. He allows them a minute before hugging each of them individually, including Nico who'd run over the moment he saw his father(?), before looking up at the others in the room. He looks at them all briefly before his gaze lands on Agent Hail who is smiling lightly with slight tears rolling down her cheeks at the sight before her. Black Eagle releases the children from his arms and wings and walks directly towards her, his expression full of relief and happiness. "And I suppose you missed me too?" He asks her softly as he raises a hand to sup her face. She nods in response as more tears fall down her cheeks before his large wings quickly envelope as he kisses her gently.

Natasha watches them in awe, she'd never before seen so much love bestowed in such minor actions and only wishes that someday she could have that too. The kiss is slow but not long enough for the room to become awkward though the children watch in glee at their parents' interaction. Once the Black Eagle releases Agent Hail he finally turns to the Avengers who quickly look away as though they were caught doing something they shouldn't. The Black Eagle raises an eyebrow at them before looking directly at Natasha who does her best to remain poker. After about a minute of having his gaze on her Cap speaks so as to break the silence around them and claiming his attention.

"So, you are called the Black Eagle?" He asks hesitantly.

"That is one of my names yes." He answers simply before sitting down on the sofa with his wife and the children who start playing or doing homework again. Cap's eyebrows raise in surprise at his words and he glances at the others before speaking again.

"What are your other names? If you don't mind my asking." He asks politely.

"I'd prefer not to say," He starts looking directly at Cap. "but you may call me Edward if you wish." He finishes looking at each of them individually. They all give nods of varying sizes and emphasis before he turns away from them and begins to play with Nico on his lap. The silence lasts for a while before they go back to their previous activities only sparing a few glances at... Edward as he spends time with his children. Natasha joins Clint on the sofa opposite the Black Eagle, she doesn't feel comfortable over calling him Edward yet, and pretends to watch what he's doing on the game when in all actuality she is watching the Black Eagle. She wasn't watching him in the way of spying as she does with Stark, but more in awe and out of curiosity than anything else. Alejandro soon joins his father and they speak in a language that Natasha's never heard before but the sounds they make are mostly clicking with their tongues or the occasional whistle through their teeth.

"Is something wrong Agent Romanoff?" Black Eagle asks suddenly pulling Natasha out of her trance. She blinks before looking briefly around the room, no one's in the room yet the TV is still running Mario Carts as though someone is still playing it. It's silent as well, no shouts or whoops of glee coming from Clint or Angela during their game. She looks around confused Trying to figure out where she is when she hears a chuckle coming from the Black Eagle. She turns back to him to see his eyes bright with humour. "You needn't worry yourself Ms. Romanoff, everyone's still here. We're just in a separate window, they can neither see nor hear us though we remain in the room with them, they do not pay attention to us. At least not until I want them to." Black Eagle explains and Natasha stares at him for a moment before speaking.

"Where are we then? In the literal sense?" She asks slightly nervous.

"We are in the computer network running through the house," He answers and Natasha's eyes widen in shock despite her training which she doubts would protect her from anything the Black Eagle could possibly do to her. She doesn't even know what abilities he has. "You are right in assuming that your abilities will be powerless against me. There are a number of things I can easily do with just my hands." He says suddenly bringing her back to attention.

"How'd you know what I was thinking?" She asks quietly. He chuckles in response his blue and black eyes closing briefly as he smiles calmly at her.

"You think it impossible that I know? We are in the computer network, one of my areas of expertise. No one can hide anything from me if I choose to bring them here." He replies. Natasha swallows briefly as she attempts to block the memories of her past and work come to the forefront of her mind without her permission. She stares at the Black Eagle as he watches them as they spread around them his expression akin to sadness. "It's a shame you know. Had you not been taken to the Red Room you would have had great success in your life, the life you dream about." He says almost to himself. She stares at him in shock and chooses to voice her questions instead having him answer her thoughts.

"How can you do this?" She asks looking around her. "This is practically impossible and how do you know what I could have become? You can't have known what choices I would have made had I not been taken to the Red Room." She says questioningly, her recently broken barriers reforming in defence.

He chuckles at her reaction unaffected by her words. "I'm a mutant Ms. Romanoff. Have been since I was born. I have many abilities that have developed over time and some that have appeared over time. I have many abilities that have aided SHIELD and mutants over the world which is why I can bring you here and how I know what future you could have had previously had it not been for the Red Room."

"But you cannot know what choices I would have made." Natasha says defensively, she feels unnerved to have him know so much about her, especially over something that could never have happened.

"You are right," He says nodding in agreement but his eyes hold something that she cannot translate. "I could not have known your exact _choices_ but I could know the most likely result." She finally works out what is in his eyes, it's knowledge, he knows something is going to happen or will happen.

"You can see the future." She whispers and he nods in response. "Why are you telling me all of this?" She asks her voice small.

"Because I need you to know that you cannot control or know everything. You constantly place your judgement on what you do know and ignore what you see afterwards, forever holding it in place and refusing to make any exceptions. This is why you and Hawkeye have not reached my level in SHIELD or in missions. I may get angry with what you do and say to those rather close to me," He stares at her hard and she has the feeling that he's referring to his children. "but I don't hold my judgement against their every move, so when you think you have the right to condemn someone on your past experience, remember that they can change and I can see us becoming rather close friends if you are careful." He finishes looking at her sternly, his gaze seems somewhat familiar but she's paralysed by the stare that she can't figure out where she's seen it before.

"Is that all?" Her voice shakes slightly as she speaks, her complete figure unnerved by how this conversation has gone. His gaze softens somewhat and a small smile expresses itself over his features.

"Don't stop dreaming, you still have a chance at the life you wish to have." He says quietly and suddenly there's noise and laughter around them. Turning away from him she can see the Avengers and the children having together not having sensed anything going on between the two of them. Looking back at the Black Eagle she can't see anything different with him, his expression remains calm and happy as he communicates with his son as though nothing had happened between them at all. She stares at him in amazement and she feels tears begin to prick her eyes at his last words to when she returns to her room after quietly leaving the living room to think over what was said. She knew Clint saw that her manor had changed and she was close to tears but she'd made him stay behind, she didn't want him to see this. This was personal, to her.

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**Hope you liked this one, exams are over for now but i still have a lot of studying to do before the end of the year but I'll try and get onto the next few chapters (I don't know how many I'm going to write yet) soon and post them up. I hope you enjoy this one!**


	7. Chapter 7 The Black Eagle - Clint

Chapter 6 The Black Eagle – Clint

Something was off. It had been two weeks since Stark had left and the Black Eagle arrived and Natasha was acting off, had been since the first day with the Black Eagle and he's not sure what to make of that. Even the others had noticed, she wasn't as snappy or defensive around the children or Agent Hail and Black Eagle, they appeared to get on really well and there was little arguing amongst them. The only time Clint has seen them argue is over what to cook for a meal which is usually solved by one of the children or by Agent Hail, she's even allowed on the third floor along with Bruce when they're with the children but neither have told any of the others what is up there and there still hasn't been any word from Stark about when he'll be coming back.

The main thing that has him suspicious was the fact that Natasha had started crying after meeting the Black Eagle and she won't tell him why which is definitely out of character for her, she almost always tells him everything, the exception being if it was something personal. He knew that she had always admired the Black Eagle from afar but for them to be practically best friends after a day–and no one else is has passed acquaintance yet–is definitely suspicious.

He's currently walking down a path outside the house thinking about these things when he walks into someone. There's a high pitched 'oof' sound made and he quickly moves to help the person up. "Sorry about that, didn't pay attention to where I was going." He says to a blonde-haired woman in a jogging suit, she was rather surprised to see him but gives a small smile in response.

"That's alright I wasn't paying much attention either. I'll be going now, if you'll excuse me." She says and hurries past him along the path, what was she doing this far out anyway and on Stark's property? Shrugging he continues his way along the path thinking very little of the encounter and instead brooding over the Black Eagle and Widow again. He's gone about 400 metres when he hears something moving fast above him. Shielding his eyes from the midday sun as he looks up at the sky and can see a dark shape flying above and seemingly heading in his direction. Using his sharp gaze, he realises it's the Black Eagle and his eyes immediately narrow in suspicion. He must want to talk about something, Clint thought as he eyes followed the descending man until he lands just a few metres ahead of him, a smirk rising on his face at Clint's expression.

"Don't worry, I'm not about to attack you." He says in a deep Spanish accent. Clint's eyebrows raise slightly in surprise as he realises that he spoke with a Spanish accent, he'd always been brooding too much over Widow and the Eagle that he hadn't paid much attention to the man's(?) voice before.

"I know you won't. I'm just wondering why you're here." Clint responds looking the man up and down. He's wearing black trousers and a dark grey T-Shirt allowing Clint to easily see the scars lining his arms. His eyes widen slightly at the sight, the scars are deep and wide and have an almost spiral effect up–or down–his arms, whoever gave him those scars had been cutting deep as they were still an extremely pale white instead of a faded purple. He must have had those scars for a very long time for them to remain colourless. The Eagle shifts slightly under his gaze causing Clint to look back at his expression he seems slightly unnerved with his right arm holding his left and moving down in what is almost a soothing pattern.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't stare at my scars so long, it causes me to get uneasy." He says and Clint blinks, why would it make him uneasy? He wonders. Almost as if reading his thoughts, the Black Eagle responds to his question. "I received these scars at a very early age, the memories that come with them were highly unpleasant, when people stare at them it causes me to become anxious or afraid that they'll attack me." Clint's eyebrows raise, once again, in shock, what could have possibly have happened to him to cause him to have a reaction like that every time he was stared at?

"Oh, sorry." Clint mutters and looks away from him before switching to another topic as an awkward atmosphere begins to arise. "So, what brings you out here?" He asks conversationally as he walks towards him and tries to keep his most pressing questions away for the time being.

"It's a good day, and it's nice to get out of the house every so often," The Black Eagle says as he starts to walk beside Clint up the path calmly, occasionally looking around them at some flowers or trees. They remain in silence for a time before he speaks again. "You've been very suspicious of me lately." He states it as a fact and his eyes make it clear to Clint that he knows exactly what he has been thinking which is both rather astonishing and creepy. "Go ahead, I know you have questions." He says with a small grin on his face.

"What did you do to Natasha?" Clint demands turning to face the Eagle front on as they stop walking. The Eagle chuckles a bit at his question much like he did the first day Clint met the man almost as though he knows every action and reaction that a person will make.

"I didn't do anything to her." He says calmly, his words make Clint's temper rise as everything he's been thinking of lately comes to the forefront of his mind at an intense rate.

"You honestly expect me to believe that?! She hasn't been acting like herself ever since you arrived!" Clint exclaims angrily. "You keep acting like best friends and she's spending more time with the others, especially Bruce and I don't know why. You've clearly done something to her!"

"You're saying all this just because she's happy?" He raises an eyebrow at Clint and his jaw stiffens at the question. "You want to know what I did? Fine. I told her something, I told her she still had a chance for what she wanted, do not ask me what it was because it is not my place to say, she will tell you if she chooses too, but I have done nothing to her or with her to make her change her actions." He says firmly before turning slightly away from him, quietly stating that the conversation is over.

"Why isn't Tony here?" Clint suddenly asks after a few minutes of awkward silence. Black Eagle turns to face him his expression completely poker.

"And why do you wish to know that?" He asks carefully. Clint looks at him in confused exasperation whilst answering.

"Why wouldn't he be? It's his home and he's a member of the team! Why shouldn't he be back by now? You two are clearly friends or something so why hasn't he been back? Don't you think he's been gone long enough?!" Black Eagle's face remains expressionless and only speaks when Clint's breathing is back under control.

"Mr. Stark is a very busy man, I'm sure he has his reasons for staying away. He is very rarely at home why I am here, it is his way of giving us privacy and last he told me, he is only a consultant not a member of this team and with the way you treated him I'm not surprised he hasn't come back." He responds sternly and Clint feels a stab of guilt in his chest. They hadn't been very kind to Tony when they'd arrived and he'd given them his home and food. Clint suddenly felt a huge amount of shame building up in his chest before remembering why he didn't like Stark.

"You don't know what he's done," He spits out angrily and Black Eagle raises an eyebrow at him. "no, you don't! His weapons killed some SHIELD agents on a mission and one of them was my friend! Yet he just walks around like he's as innocent as a child without taking responsibility over his actions!" His breathing is heavy as he glares at the man. He stood stock still in slight shock before his eyes turn completely black then shimmer white as his wings span out to their full length and he almost appears taller making Clint feel very small as he stands over him.

"You had better watch what you say," His voice is an octave deeper than before and the surrounding seems to have fallen silent, not even a branch moving. "I have authority to remove anyone from the household if I deem them unworthy. You hold Mr. Stark's past actions against him when he is trying to atone for what he did. Your argument is not with me but with him, yet you should remember that you can be thrown out at any point so ask yourself, do you really want to risk losing a comfortable home to stay in over past actions?" Clint shakes his head minutely, holding a deep respect as well as fear for the mutant–wait when did he become mutant? Is he a mutant? "Good, now go back inside Natasha is waiting for you." Clint nods again and the man suddenly launches himself into the air and disappears form view. Clint thinks over what happened. He guesses the Eagle did have a point but he still didn't forgive Stark for his actions. He'll just have to wait for Stark to come back from his 'holiday' or whatever it is and confront him about it then. Until then he had better get back to the 'house' before Natasha kills him.

Once again, the Black Eagle made a mistake but this time another was included. Having been too caught up in their argument they had missed the woman that had run into Clint earlier hiding in the bushes not far from them. At first Mystique had ignored the man, thinking he was a regular passer-by for this area when she'd seen the Black Eagle land near him. Her interest and suspicions immediately arose and she'd crept closer to them to listen in. She wasn't sure at first who they were talking about, but as soon as the name 'Stark' was uttered her eyes had widened comically. The man must be one of the Avengers! Who must be staying with Mr. Stark though he doesn't seem to be in the area and the Black Eagle is staying with them! She decides to follow the other man carefully as he makes his way back to the house that had been mentioned so she can figure out where it is the Eagle is staying before calling Magneto about the situation. She must admit though, she was abruptly terrified when the Eagle had stood down on the other man even more so than the first time, she saw him. For this time, he wasn't preparing to fly, he was threatening the man and boy does she hope she never comes across that side of him but he is unpredictable as of now so she cannot make that judgement when he is approached by one of the Brotherhood.

She's thrown out of her thoughts when the man she'd been following suddenly disappears she looks around but cannot see him. Worried she creeps up from her hiding place and stands almost at her full height in order to see before freezing at the sight in front of her. It's a large mansion overhanging on the face of a cliff and she can just see the man entering at what must be the front door, it's hard to see from where she is. Looking around to make sure she's alone, she pulls out her phone and takes a picture of the mansion and notes down the address before calling her 'superiors' again. She'd been looking for the Eagle for two weeks and had been constantly harassed by them because she couldn't find out where the Eagle was, but they were 'unable' to send anyone to help her track him down. She waits impatiently for one of them to pick up the phone and they eventually do after the fourth ring.

"What is it?" They demand and Mystique has to grit her teeth to herself from verbally lashing out.

"I've located the Eagle. He's with the Avengers in Malibu." She reports promptly. There's a huff of disbelief from the other end of the phone.

"Of course, he is," They respond sarcastically, "the Black Eagle and he is staying with the Avengers, what business would they have in California?!" their tone of voice is really starting to peeve her off now.

"I saw one of them, and they spoke about Tony Stark or argued about him in any case, but I saw the Eagle leave and one of the Avengers go into a mansion which in no way they could afford to live in. He is in Malibu and I know he is staying in that mansion." She responds determinedly not leaving any room for argument. There's an exasperated huff at the over end once again before they speak.

"Very well. We'll have someone come and collect you and survey the area before we make any move. Now make sure they don't go anywhere!" The call ends abruptly and Mystique lets a deadly smile creep up on her face before she leaves the area and goes back into a more civilised area to await whoever is coming. _They have a better a chance of winning this war now than ever before when the Black Eagle joins them_, she thinks darkly to herself.

**Sorry for the wait, school work has picked up again and so have a few of the assessments, anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8 The Black Eagle - Steve

**Chapter 7 The Black Eagle – Steve**

Steve wasn't sure what to think of the Black Eagle or Edward, he was certainly cautious and always appeared to have his guard up around the Avengers. Even when he was with his children and wife he was always guarded whenever he heard one of them coming close to him and Steve was fairly certain that his hearing was nothing in comparison to the Black Eagle's. There are times though when the Black Eagle and his family will disappear down in the garage and be gone for days before turning back up again and acting as though they'd always been there. It was slightly unnerving and there was still no word from Stark about his whereabouts or when-if he's coming back.

Even Natasha is slightly suspicious about the situation over where the mutants disappear to and where Stark is but it doesn't seem to be too much of an issue for her as she has yet to start investigating. Maybe it's natural or maybe the army built it into him to be suspicious about people disappearing, after all, in his day it either meant you were dead or turned spy. So this is what ends up leading him to follow the Black Eagle when he leaves the house one day through a side exit. Using his stealth Steve quickly follows after him whilst making sure to stay out of sight. He starts making his way down the face of the cliff and Steve's brow furrows in confusion _why doesn't he just fly?_ he asks himself.

He waits for a moment before following him down and soon finds himself at the mouth of a cave. He stands outside it for a moment before taking a breath and entering. It's almost pitch black were it not for the sunlight behind him and he walks in the dark for a few minutes before he is suddenly blinded by sunlight. He's standing on a beach alone with nothing but shells and seaweed lying in the sand. Turning his head he looks around him trying to see where the Eagle may have gone but doesn't spot him anywhere. Frowning Steve walks towards the water and gazes out over the waves and up at the sky to see if there's a black spec flying about anywhere. He has to squint which doesn't help much but he is able to determine that the Eagle isn't flying about anywhere. Sighing he turns around and starts to head towards the cave/tunnel once again his eyes flickering up every so often unaware that he was being watched.

As he enters the cave Steve hears a faint rustle of leaves by a bush not far to his right away from the sea. Pausing in his step he turns towards the sound with narrowed eyes as he cautiously makes his way to where he thinks the animal/person/creature is. He's about to step into the bush when he feels the wind shift and movement behind him. He spins around ready for an attack but instead finds himself face to face with Tony Stark. He blinks in surprise and shock, he hadn't seen him come from any direction and there are no footprints in the sand for him to have walked there. What's also different is that his clothes are exactly the same ones that the Black Eagle had been wearing, just a coincidence maybe?

"Captain." Stark says and Steve has to blink and swallow before he is able to speak again.

"Mr. Stark." Almost the same greeting he had given him when they first spoke except that he had spoken first and not Stark. He scrambles his mind for something to say but Stark beats him to it.

"Good weather today isn't it?" He asks his eyes wandering over to the sea to watch the roaring waves.

"Yes, good." Steve says lamely still trying to figure out how Stark had gotten there. "I don't mean to be rude but where did you come from?" Steve asks. Stark turns and looks back with a bemused look on his face.

"Did you never receive the 'birds and the bees' talk Captain?" Steve flushes a dark red at his words and his anger takes over his mouth.

"You know that's not what I meant Stark!" He says nastily, Stark only raises an eyebrow at him and folds his arms over his chest.

"I know." He says simply turning away from him to look back out over the ocean. The fact that he didn't react makes Steve slightly angrier _does he really not care about anything he says or does?_ he thinks angrily. "I heard you coming, I hid then started walking in your footprints. Why were you following Edward?" He asks his eyes glance briefly over at him.

Steve opens his mouth and closes it once again his expression now sharp and arrogant. "That doesn't concern you." He replies but he can't help but wonder how he managed to hide from his sight whilst walking in his previous footsteps. Stark just glances at him and turns away again, with very little change in his posture.

"Very well then, should we return to the house or is there something you want to say to me?" He asks and Steve stares at him, _is he so narcissistic that he expects everyone to be constantly thinking about him?_

"No." Steve replied curtly and starts walking back the way he came whilst taking extra care to look at the shape of his footprints in the sand and it is very clear that no one walked in them. Either Stark is very good with stealth or he is an excellent liar, probably the latter. Soon he hears footsteps beside him and looks up to see Stark walking near his side staring straight ahead at the tunnel they're heading towards. _Does he think himself my equal or higher?_ Cap thinks to himself but the sudden lack of light as he enters the tunnel distracts him and causes him to pause to try and let his eyes adjust when there's a sudden blue-white light shining in the tunnel. He blinks rapidly as his eyes readjust, _again_, before looking around to find the source of the light only to freeze when he realises it's coming from Stark.

The Arc Reactor is almost blinding to look at but the light is strong and has an almost heavy feel to it, as though it's a burden. As he stares in awe at it Steve's hearing picks up on a low vibrating sound like that of an engine along with a steady beat like a drum, it takes a moment before he realises that he's listening to Stark's heart. "Are you done staring at my heart Captain?" Stark's voice brings Steve out of his reverie and he looks up to see an exasperated yet self conscious Tony Stark as his right hand itches towards the Arc Reactor when something occurs to him.

"Your heart?" He asks and Stark stares at him waiting for the other part of the question clearly not understanding his meaning.

"Yeah, what about?" Stark asks confused.

"You call it your heart?" Steve asks again and Stark stares at him like he can't believe him.

"Are you a numpty? Or did no one tell you what this thing is here for?" He asks gesturing to the Arc Reactor, Steve's face flushes red as his anger spikes up again.

"No I'm not! And yes they did tell, I just didn't expect you to directly call it your heart!" Steve yells and instantly regrets the yelling as his voice echoes in the tunnel and Stark flinches back away from him as though he swore vehemently at him. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell." Steve says quickly to try and calm Stark down as his breathing is heavy and uneven.

"...Sure, let's just get out of here." Stark manages and quickly makes towards the exit at such a quick pace that even Steve is having to speed up to stay with him. Once again Steve is blinded and by the time his eyes have adjusted Stark is already halfway up the cliff. Shocked at the speed he has Steve runs to catch up with him and just barely catches him as he's about to head down to the garage with the others staring at him.

"Stark," Steve says but he only increases his pace when he hears his voice and Steve has to quickly place his hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Stark I-"

"Let go of me Rodgers!" Stark spits at and suddenly turns around to glare at him, his eyes completely black. Steve let's go in shock and fear as his memories of the first time seeing him like this flood in his mind. THe other Avengers all come closer along with the children whereas Agent Hail stands off to one side completely calm in comparison to the others' wary faces.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Steve tries to start again but the sound of his heart and the vibrating increasing in his ears cuts him off as he stares at it once again as the light increases.

"I think you've said enough!" Stark growls out in anger bringing Steve's eyes back to his face. He opens his mouth to speak but is promptly cut off. "Don't." His voice is low in warning and his glare heavy enough to silence him but still the beat of his heart and the vibrating sound through the air. Then suddenly Agent Hail is standing between them and rests a hand on his shoulder, claiming his attention. She whispers something to him and he nods minutely before allowing her to lead him down the stairs to the garage.

It's silent in the room. Not one person makes a sound. But Steve can still hear the drumming and the engine in the room as he remembers the death glare Stark had given him. He wasn't angry, he was haunted. Haunted by the sounds of drumming and engines.

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**AN: Sorry for the late update, I have no excuse except that exams are starting again so I will have very little time to do any more chapters for a while, I hope you're still enjoying the story though! (By the way if I get anything with the mutants or X-Men wrong can you please let me know, I literally know next to nothing about them other than a few of the character's names and abilities I don't know their backgrounds at all or very well at most). Thanks for your support!**

**Mairai688**


	9. Chapter 9 Thor

**Chapter 9 Thor**

The atmosphere was suddenly very tense after the Man of Iron left the room. Many of the people in the room were staring at the Captain wondering what had happened, whilst Thor stares at the agent's children. Lady Hail had looked angry and afraid before interrupting the contention between the Man of Iron and the Captain, whilst the children were shocked at what had been occurring. The magic surrounding the children and their mother had shifted when the Man of Iron had entered the room, it seemed as though they were at first expecting the Eagle of Black when instead the Man of Iron had entered. They appeared confused at first but their emotions towards him did not change, their magic still represented him as their father, the Eagle of Black which was highly interesting.

_Is it possible that the Eagle of Black and the Man of Iron are the same?_

It seemed impossible at first in Thor's mind as he thought of it but when he considered the manner and behaviour of both men when they arrived and left and the reactions of the agent and children, it began to be clearer. When the Man of Iron had left there had been a small but strong sense of magic surrounding him and not just where the blue light in his chest rested. Then when the Eagle had appeared he had noticed that that same power surrounded him but at a much stronger level and seemed to radiate around and off of him. Had they been in Asgard Thor would have immediately questioned these things with the Eagle and the All Father and bow with respect. Very few beings existed with such power and they were rarely seen in Asgard or Midgard. He had attempted to make eye contact with the Eagle but was unable for the first few minutes due to his family surrounding him, however once he was free they briefly made contact and Thor partially inclined his head in respect for the being who had inclined his in response.

It was clear that this being was great and powerful but also carried distrust in his manner very much like the Man of Iron, Midgardians would simply call this a coincidence but Thor knows that there is no such thing. He had not wanted to interfere with the Being's family or with the other Avengers so he simply observed until earlier that morning when the Eagle of Black had left the house. He'd appeared reserved when greeting Thor with his magic hanging low as though he was about to change into something else. It led Thor to assume that it was something to do with his occupation or family was bothering and thought it odd when he saw the Captain follow behind him but at a distance to remain unknown to the being.

When the Man of Iron had returned with the Captain he had been visibly shaking with anger and there was more magic surrounding his heart and body than what had been there when he'd left two weeks prior. But as the Captain kept pressuring him and refusing to leave him alone Thor felt the power rise to almost the exact level the Eagle had when he'd first appeared. It also matched the power he had experienced when the Man of Iron had been shouting due to his ADHD which Thor still struggled to understand. Whenever the man's eyes turned black the power would increase to such an intensity that the pressure in the room would surmount, almost as though he himself was summoning a storm or lightning bolt from the sky. Very much like it was now however there was no magic causing it.

"What did you do?" The doctor-Bruce demanded as he looked directly at the captain, pulling Thor from his thoughts and to the situation at hand. The captain was still staring at the place where the Man of Iron had stood before turning around in a defensive manner when he heard the Doctor's tone of voice.

"I didn't do anything!" He replies his voice containing the defense his body held. The Doctor's body tensed as he glared at the captain.

"You obviously did something or he wouldn't have gotten angry!" Bruce yells at him before taking a breath and placing a hand over his heart to attempt to slow it. Th eWidow of Black stepped up beside him and places a hand on his shoulder to assist the Doctor in calming himself, her action is effective as his eyes remain brown as he remains glaring at the captain who still remains defensive yet wary of the man.

"All I did was yell at him when we were in a dark tunnel down on the beach and he just took off!" Steve exclaims and Thor observes the widening of the Widow's eyes in horror and the children's loud gasps. Steve looks at them confused, "What?" The Widow's eyes turn hard as she walks up to him and slaps him in the face before the Eye of Hawk can stop her.

"Never do that again!" She exclaims angrily. The captain places a hand over his cheek and rubs at it whilst staring at her in shock.

"What's the deal with it? He deserves it if it made him uneasy after everything he's done!" Clint exclaims at the Widow causing both her and Thor to narrow their eyes at him, Natasha's in anger and Thor's in disapproval.

"Don't you dare condemn him, yes he's a narcissist and he's a real jerk, but no matter what no one yells at him in a cave, tunnel, or in the dark as it could kill him!" Natasha yells at him and they all look at her in surprise and shock whereas Thor watches in shocked interest. The Man of Iron could die simply due to being yelled at? Why?

"How could yelling at him kill him? That's basically impossible!" Steve responds not believing her words but the children answer his question before she is able to.

"Because it scares him!" Alejandro yells at them his magic surrounding him and his wings in clear view causing everyone to freeze in response at the sight of the angry child. He's stood on the coffee table with the older children on either side of him but standing on the floor."It scares him and can send his heart racing at a rate that would cause it to collapse! Echoes have scarred him for life and any unexpected reminder of them can cause his heart to shut down!" He's breathing heavily as he glares at Steve and Clint who now appear fearful of the child and his siblings who are also displaying their power beside him in case of a fight.

"Shall he recover from the fright?" Thor asks Alejandro in attempt to calm him as well as know if the Man of Iron will be okay. Alejandro does relax a small amount as he turns to answer his question.

"Mum will be making sure that his heart is alright and help him to calm it down." Alejandro says and there's a collective sigh of relief from the Doctor and Widow of Black as well as Thor himself. "But I'd stay away from him and Mum, they won't take it too kindly if you try and interrupt them in anyway." The Eye of Hawk isn't very happy with these words and leaves the room along with the captain who returns again to the outdoors. Once they leave the children relax and hide their power before returning to their previous activities almost as if nothing happened whereas the Doctor and Widow quietly begin to contend over going down to the garage or not.

"I want to make sure he's alright. Something could've happened to his heart!" The Doctor says whilst staring at the stairs and moving towards them. The Widow of Black stops him with her hand on his shoulder and turns him to face her.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, you heard what Alejandro said and even though I may not trust or like Stark too much I know that it won't be a good idea for any of us to go down there, he doesn't need any more stress than he already has." She replies and holds him still as he makes towards the stairs again.

At this point, Thor has considered the possible outcomes of their argument and one of them meeting up with the Man of Iron and decides to step in before they become even more stressed. He walks up to them and places a hand on each of their shoulders forcing them to look at him. "I do not believe it would be good for either of you to speak to the Man of Iron as you are both rather stressed and will only cause him more anxiety," He begins and they both attempt to speak but he interrupts them. "however, I know you are both concerned over his condition so I will go down and speak to Lady Hail and request to know of his health, this way neither of you nor the Man of Iron will be negatively affected in case something went wrong." They both looked at him then at each other before sighing and nodding in agreement. He nods in return and releases their shoulders of his grip and watches as they walk upstairs together conversing quietly before the starts down the stairs himself at a steady pace.

There is a glass door in front of him, blocking his entrance and view of anything inside the room. he ponders what he should do when it opens and Agent Hail is in front of him with a tired and anxiety filled expression. She smiles at him slightly before allowing him into the room without either of them exchanging words as they both know why he's there. He bows his head to her in thanks and enters the large room full of machinery. He looks around for the Man of Iron before spotting him in a hidden room lying on the ground. As Thor walks closer to him he notices some changes to him, his power is at full height and his hair matches that of Alejandro's. When he enters the room and looks down at his face he appears to be asleep before both eyes suddenly open. His eyes are the perfect match to those of the Black Eagle's the only difference between them now is the matter of the wings which Thor cannot see anywhere.

"Thought you'd be the one to come and visit me." Tony says quietly as he looks at Thor who smiles slightly in response. "Bruce and Natasha fought over it I assume?"

"You assume correctly. But I believed that it would be too stressful for you to answer their questions and deal with their anxiety if they came down." He pauses before asking "I hope you are faring well?"

"I'm… doing better than before but I'm still not out of the woods yet." Tony says giving him a small smile before looking away his eyes tired and thoughtful. His mind is full of memories from the Black Eagle over the last two weeks and the many situations the family was in with the mutants. Magneto had been nosing around, popping up here and there along with his main followers causing Professor X to send for him and Elementa with the children going with them as a precaution. They haven't been able to discover anything concerning Magneto's plans and its causing great anxiety to be spread around the mutants against him. With the Avengers there's been some interesting bonding moments - such as Bruce and Natasha's moment - as well as arguments - Clint and Steve - which caused him to call Nicholas/Fury several times to help calm himself down. There hadn't been much interaction between the Black Eagle and Thor other than some small talk, but he knew that Thor held deep respect for him and was just observing before making his move.

"Was it true?" Thor asks suddenly causing him to look up and give him a confused look. "What your son said, about your heart failing due to echoes. I am most certain that you were listening."

"Yes it was." The Man of Iron answers quietly, looking away from the ceiling. "I assume you figured out the riddle when you saw me in here?"

"I did, although I had my suspicions from when I first met you as the Black Eagle." He says in response. The Man of Iron nods in response and then slowly sits himself up, crossing his legs and resting his arms on his legs. Lady Hail adjusts her position so that she is partially leaning on him with her hand near his right. They remain silent for several minutes, content with their own thoughts until the voice in the walls speaks up.

_"Sir, your presence is requested immediately." _The invisible speaker's voice is filled with fear that contrasts heavily with its usual calm.

"What's wrong JARVIS?" The Man of Iron asks standing up quickly, pulling Lady Hail up with him.

_"Magneto has arrived."_

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**Sorry for the late update, I've got exams on again and I'm not always on my computer. I hope you like this chapter. Please review, it helps me to continue writing as I'll know people are enjoying my stories or I might end up dropping this one like I've done with a few others. I'll try not to though.**


	10. Chapter 10 Identity Misgivings

**Thank you Akenji for your reviews, they really helped me to continue writing this story today. I literally saw your review today and started writing it almost as soon as I saw it. I've been struggling with very bad depression since late January and I've found it exceptionally difficult to keep up with all of my writing and school work with COVID-19 going on as well as the fact that my Dad works in the Hospital's theatres. I've had a very difficult time this year so thank you for boosting my confidence and anyone else who has submitted reviews that I may not have seen yet. I have been writing other stories on Wattpad if you want to take a look at them, my username is the same as the one on here. So thank you again Akenji for boosting my confidence, this chapter is dedicated to you, I hope you like it!**

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Chapter 10 Identity Misgiving

The calm air that had been in the room suddenly turned as sharp as ice and seemed to pierce the hearts of all those in the garage. He'd been aware that Magneto was searching for him and that someone had been tracking him but he hadn't expected them to come here so soon or that Magneto himself would come. Looking at Abigail he can see the exact same thoughts going through her mind, they both know what's going to happen from Tony's vision. It wouldn't end well for him, he knew, Magneto would force him out and the Avengers would be torn with shock and distrust. He knew what he would have to do and he could only hope that everything turned out for the best as his most guarded secrets would be revealed before the end of the night.

Taking a deep breath Tony forces himself to stand despite the struggle in his mind and heart, he sways before Abigail catches his arm and forces him still. This is the most inconvenient time for Magneto to come, Tony's thoughts growled as he fought the pain in his heart. He takes a step, then another and another, he sighs in relief that the pain in his heart has stopped affecting his balance, for now anyway. Abigail releases his arm as they're about to mount the stairs with Thor just behind them when Tony reigns in his power to only surround his heart to prevent Magneto guessing who he was. Mounting the stairs, Tony finds himself tensing in anticipation of the coming event but ignores it as he climbs the stairs upon reaching the top he sees a sight that has his skin crawling in anger.

The children are surrounded by members of the brotherhood including Mystique, Mastermind, Blob, and Juggernaut. The children are all facing the TV though it isn't on and Tony assumes that Mastermind is manipulating their minds so they aren't aware of the situation. The Avengers however, are outside the mutants circle with no guards near them, yet they are tense and their eyes sharp but have made no movement to get closer to the children or the stairway, quite possibly as a way of defending them and preventing the mutants from knowing exactly where he was. The moment Tony steps into the room all eyes - aside from the children - are on him, the mutant's eyes widen in shock when they see him. Clearly they had not planned on Tony Stark being home.

"Mystique, Mastermind, Blob, Juggernaut what a surprise to find you here in my home," Tony says casually as he walks towards them. The mutants watch him as he moves, very surprised to find him so relaxed as he talks to them and unsure whether he knows of their powers. Tony observes this but makes no inclination of knowing of their powers as he continues speaking. "Usually when I come up here after working I don't find myself with unexpected guests." He continues staring at them pointedly, they appear physically unfazed but he can feel their minds hard at work, unsure of what to do. Even Mastermind is struggling to focus on him and keep the children from knowing what's really going on. Interesting, Tony thinks, I might be able to 'accidentally' free the children from his grip so long as I remain 'innocent' to their powers.

"Where is the Black Eagle?" Mystique demands, she's worked too hard to get them there for him to suddenly disappear. Tony merely lifts his eyebrows in quiet surprise yet his voice remains indifferent when he responds.

"How should I know? He left a while ago, where? I know not as I don't ask him questions." Tony responds his tone indifferent, peeving off Mystique to his internal delight.

"You know where he is." Juggernaut growls his voice rumbling like thunder. Once again Tony lifts his eyebrows but remains indifferent to his words. Internally he's laughing at all of them because he isn't exactly lying. He doesn't ask the Black Eagle questions as that's practically impossible, and he doesn't know where he is because he can't see him.

"Of course I do, he's in the sky," Tony responds sarcastically, turning away from him and moving towards the sofa's where the children are with Abigail following closely behind him. He watches the children with a thoughtful expression on his face before looking straight at Mastermind and saying seriously: "Are you up for hire? 'Cause it would be great if they were always this quiet around here." Mastermind looks at him in shock and almost loses control over their minds. Abigail picks up on the subtle hint in Tony's words and encourages his suggestion.

"That would be great actually, especially if you could babysit on a night they're such a handful trying to get them all to sleep." She says seriously and gives him a considerate look that unnerves him as well as the other mutants in the room. They had not expected to see Tony Stark and an unknown woman act so seriously and calm in their presence considering their reputation and abilities.

At her words, Mastermind loses complete control over the children and says one word: "What?" in utter disbelief. The children all blink and look around them and are shocked at the situation they find themselves in but are smart enough not to make a sound as the mutants watch the couple in front of them.

Tony looks at him in indifferent surprise at his question and asks, "What? Isn't that why you're here? You're certainly doing a good job with the kids." He says and looks at the children who immediately go back to looking at the TV screen with blank expressions when the mutants turn to look at them. Mastermind looks at them slightly shocked that his powers are working on him without him knowing and begins to feel a little bit cocky with his power if not wary.

"No, we're here for the Black Eagle you idiot." Mystique snaps at him, her expression hard as she looks from Mastermind to the children then back to Tony, something's up but she can't tell what it is.

"What a shame that he isn't here then, I would tell you to come another day but he won't be coming back here." Tony replied casually as he turned to face her.

"What do you mean?" She asks, her eyebrows narrowing.

Tony shrugs and says, "Well he told me that he was leaving to join his parents."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" The Blob demands as he takes a threatening step forward.

"Now, now, no need to get hostile," Tony says looking up at The Blob with a bored expression, "he's basically gone to heaven."

"WHAT?!" A shrill voice rings out making everyone, bar Tony, flinch at the sound. He turns to face the voice and finds Magneto standing two metres away from him, his entire body screaming out in rage. He walks up to Tony who stands his ground and points at him threateningly. "What do you mean he's gone to 'heaven'?!" He demands his voice now lower but still loud.

"He'd been ill for a long time though it couldn't be seen. He'd been suffering for many years, I'd been trying to find a cure for him but I came to the conclusion a few days ago that his condition was impossible to cure. So he decided to leave for heaven today, maybe to find a cure or simply join his parents and leave the Earth I could not tell you, but you're wasting your time here if that's all you're here for so I'd recommend you leaving." Magneto stares at Tony who looks completely unthreatened by him despite the fact that he could kill him in an instant. His confidence is what's shaken the mutants the most and causes Magneto to back up a step as he can sense something powerful within Tony beginning to rise in his chest.

"You have a lot of power within you Stark," he starts watching Tony carefully, "more than a normal person should have." Tony shrugs unperturbed by Magneto's statement and looks him directly in the eyes when he responds.

"But I'm anything but normal Magneto." He says his voice low and serious. "For my heart is as black as the eagle's."

Before anyone can comprehend his words the Arc Reactor flashes brightly through the room and suddenly they're not in the living room anymore, but inside a computer system Tony had been designing for this very encounter. Everyone but Abigail, the children, Thor and Tony are within the system and are all looking around in shock as electricity runs around and through them. The Avengers look around in confusion and shock as well as the mutants who just stare at each other unable to think of anything to say as their leader walks straight up to Steve and goes to punch him out of anger. Steve reacts without thinking, lifting his arm up to intercept the blow only to stumble back in shock as Magneto's hand passes straight through him. Magneto's eyes are wide as he stares at his own hand as it reforms like static on a screen in front of him. The other mutants stare in shock and try to touch each other with the same response that Magneto had. The Avengers copy the mutants except that they find that they can touch each other without their hands passing through each other.

No one knows what to think of this new discovery let alone what to say, the only one who seems remotely calm is Natasha. She recognises the place they're in and she knows that the Black Eagle is somewhere near them. She looks around as the two groups begin to argue amongst each other over what's happened but she blocks them out as she searches the maze of electricity for any sign of the Eagle. As she does this she notices a pattern in the movements of the electricity around them. They appear as little balls of light travelling in different directions but still going to the same places, as she observes she realises that they're forming a large cuboid around them. She reaches out to touch one of the balls of light when a face suddenly appears behind it and she jumps back in shock letting out a small cry in the process thus ending the contention behind her between the mutants and the Avengers.

The face that had suddenly appeared was the Black Eagle's and yet it was Tony Stark's at the same time. He stepped forward through the balls of light and into the cuboid, his features constantly shifting between the Black Eagle's and Tony's confusing her greatly, his body doesn't change either and as she looks closer she can see black, blue, white, gold, and red feathers wrapped around his body like clothing, large wings protrude from his back with the same colours decorating their feathers. His eyes contain all the colours aforementioned and the only things that remain constant in his features.

"Tony?" Natasha whispers as her memories of the Black Eagle and Tony come together in a perfect match, filling in the blanks and questions she's had pertaining to the both of them, finally realising his true identity. In all truth she isn't the only one who's experiencing this revelation, in fact all the mutants and Avengers are and their eyes are wide in shock.

"Hello, Natasha," Anthony responds quietly. He is no longer Tony or the Black Eagle, but he is both now joined together as one for the first time in his life. All of his memories are coming together so that he can now see his time with his children as the Black Eagle without a grainy sheen obscuring the details. His scars are all visible and his goatee remains but there is a stark difference between who he is now, to who he was before.

"You're the Black Eagle." Cap states as he stares at Anthony in shocked awe.

"I am." He responds, his voice quiet. He turns away from them to face Magneto and the mutants.

"You will remain here for the remainder of your days as punishment for your crimes and the rest of your order shall join you soon. Your powers will be ineffective and you won't be able to physically harm anyone who comes in here as I'm sure you discovered." He says looking knowingly at Magneto. Surprisingly Magneto remains quiet and doesn't attempt to speak as he focuses on Anthony, his body shaking as he attempts to control him. Eventually, he lets go of his efforts and breathes heavily, his eyes wide with shock at being unable to control him. Anthony smirks at him before speaking once more, "You cannot control what does not exist."

With that, he disappears and the Arc Reactor's light fades so that once more the Avengers can see the living room with the children still seated on the sofas but with Tony, Abigail, and Thor sitting next to them talking quietly as they watch Frozen 2 on the TV screen. They all stare at them in quiet shock before Tony looks up at them, his expression indifferent.

"Enjoy your trip to Exiztanxe?"


End file.
